In the United States, a state is a political entity. There are currently 50 of them, and they are bound together in a federation. Each has a government and can make laws over a particular area that the state covers. All states have a shared sovereignty with the U.S. federal government. People who were born or naturalized in states are citizens of both the United States and the state they are in. People can move between states without asking or saying so, unless a court has said they can't. Four states call themselves "commonwealths" in their official names. Washington, D.C. is a federal district and not a state nor in a state.