The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the American Northeast or simply the Northeast, is a geographical region of the United States of America bounded to the north by Canada, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Southern United States, and to the west by the Midwestern United States. The Northeast is one of the four regions defined by the Census Bureau for the collection and analysis of statistics. The Census Bureau-defined region has a total area of 181,324 sq mi (469,630 km2) with 162,257 square miles (420,240 km2) of that being land mass. Though lacking a unified cultural identity, the Northeastern region is the nation's most economically developed, densely populated, and culturally diverse region. Of the nation's four census regions, the Northeast is the