--- title: "When was a US state last admitted?" description: "Hawaii, the fiftieth, 21 August 1959. What happened, why it has not happened since, and whether it plausibly could again." url: https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/us-state/ site: "At One Place" --- # When was a US state last admitted? **When was a US state last admitted?: 21 August 1959** Hawaii, the fiftieth Alaska had been admitted seven months earlier, on 3 January 1959, so the fiftieth star was added to the flag on 4 July 1960 and has not moved since. The flag design allows for adding a star and has no provision for removing one. Statehood for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico has been proposed repeatedly and has never passed both chambers. - **What:** Hawaii, the fiftieth - **When:** 21 August 1959 - **Category:** Countries and borders - **Could this change?:** Yes. This streak could end, and if it does this page becomes a historical note rather than an answer. ## Countries and borders | Question | When | | --- | --- | | When did a country last join the United Nations? | 14 July 2011 | | When was the US Constitution last amended? | 7 May 1992 | | When did Britain last change its currency system? | 15 February 1971 | | When did the US flag last change? | 4 July 1960 | | When did a European country last change calendar? | 1923 | | When did the size of the US Supreme Court last change? | 1869 | | When did the Union Jack last change? | 1 January 1801 | > This page gives a date and never a "years ago". These pages are built as static files, so a computed interval would freeze at build time and quietly become wrong — which on a reference site is worse than making the reader do the subtraction. ## Common questions ### When was a US state last admitted? 21 August 1959 — Hawaii, the fiftieth. ### What happened? Alaska had been admitted seven months earlier, on 3 January 1959, so the fiftieth star was added to the flag on 4 July 1960 and has not moved since. The flag design allows for adding a star and has no provision for removing one. Statehood for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico has been proposed repeatedly and has never passed both chambers. ### Could it happen again? Yes. This is one of the entries where the streak could plausibly end, which is stated on the page rather than left implied. ## Related pages - [When did a country last join the United Nations?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/un-member/) - [When was the US Constitution last amended?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/constitutional-amendment/) - [When did Britain last change its currency system?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/decimal-currency-uk/) - [When did the US flag last change?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/us-flag-change/) - [When did a European country last change calendar?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/calendar-change/) - [When did the size of the US Supreme Court last change?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/us-supreme-court-size/) - [When did the prime meridian last move?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/prime-meridian/) - [When was the metre last redefined?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/metre-redefined/) - [When did a human last walk on the Moon?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/human-on-the-moon/) - [When did Britain last change its currency system?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/decimal-currency-uk/) - [When did the US flag last change?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/us-flag-change/) - [When did the Olympics last award medals for art?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/olympic-art/) - [Everything, most recent first](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/) ## Sources - Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]