Claim: The Caribbean Sea contains some of the territories of the United States.

Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions directly overseen by the United States federal government -LRB- unlike U.S. states , which share sovereignty with the federal government -RRB- . These territories are classified by whether they are incorporated -LRB- part of the United States proper -RRB- and whether they have an organized government through an Organic Act passed by the U.S. Congress .   Currently , the United States has sixteen territories , five of which are permanently inhabited : Puerto Rico , Guam , the Northern Mariana Islands , the U.S. Virgin Islands , and American Samoa . They are classified as unincorporated territories . They are organized , self-governing territories with locally elected governors and territorial legislatures . Each also elects a non-voting member -LRB- or resident commissioner -RRB- to the U.S. House of Representatives . Eleven territories are small islands , atolls and reefs , spread across the Caribbean and Pacific , with no native or permanent populations . These are Palmyra Atoll , Baker Island , Howland Island , Jarvis Island , Johnston Atoll , Kingman Reef , Midway Islands , Bajo Nuevo Bank , Navassa Island , Serranilla Bank and Wake Island , which are claimed by the United States under the Guano Islands Act of 1856 . The status of some are disputed by Colombia , Haiti , Honduras , Jamaica , Nicaragua , and the Marshall Islands . The Palmyra Atoll is the only territory currently incorporated .   Historically , territories were created to govern newly acquired land while the borders of the United States were still evolving . Most territories eventually attained statehood . Other territories administered by the United States went on to become independent countries , such as the Philippines , Micronesia , Marshall Islands and Palau . Micronesia , Marshall Islands and Palau gained independence under the Compact of Free Association -LRB- COFA -RRB- , which allows the U.S. full authority over aid and defense in exchange for continued access to U.S. health care , government services such as the FCC and United States Postal Service , and the right for COFA citizens to work freely in the United States and vice versa .   Many organized incorporated territories of the United States existed from 1789 to 1959 -LRB- the first being the Northwest and the Southwest territories , the last being the Alaska Territory and the Hawaii Territory -RRB- , through which 31 territories applied for and were granted statehood . In the process of organizing and promoting territories to statehood , some areas of a territory demographically lacking sufficient development and population densities were temporarily orphaned from parts of a larger territory at the time a vote was taken petitioning Congress for statehood rights . For example , when a portion of the Missouri Territory became the state of Missouri , the remaining portion of the territory , consisting of the present states of Iowa , Nebraska and the Dakotas , most of Kansas , Wyoming , and Montana , and parts of Colorado and Minnesota , effectively became an unorganized territory .