What is the total length of the U.S. shoreline?
NOAA’s official value for the total length of U.S. tidal shoreline is 95,471 statute miles (The Coastline of the United States [NOAA/PA 71046], 1975). The tidal shoreline figures were measured by hand in 1939-40 with a recording instrument on the largest-scale charts and maps then available. Shorelines of outer coast, offshore islands, sounds, bays, rivers, and creeks were included to the head of the tidewater or to a point where tidal waters narrow to a width of 100 feet. The total length of tidal shoreline includes measurements of the coastal states as well as the outlying U.S. territories and possessions. For the Great Lakes, the shoreline lengths were measured in 1970 by the International Coordinating Committee on Great Lakes Basic Hydraulic and Hydrologic Data.
