Maryland is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. To its south and west, the state borders Virginia and West Virginia and the national capital of Washington, D.C. To its north, it borders Pennsylvania. To its east, it borders Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean. With a total land area of 12,407 square miles, Maryland is the ninth-smallest state by land area, and its population of 6,177,224 ranks it the 18th-most populous state and the fifth-most densely populated.