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United States territories can be classified along either of two axis, depending on whether the territory is incorporated or unincorporated and whether the territory is organized or unorganized.

Through most of U.S. history, territories which were admitted as U.S. states were, prior to admission, considered to be incorporated as integral parts of the United States and had organized territorial governments, specified by an Organic Act passed by the United States Congress.

Currently the only incorporated territory is Palmyra Atoll, which also happens to be unorganized. All other U.S. territories are unincorporated (meaning that they are not fully part of the United States, with all aspects of the United States Constitution applying automatically).

The following organized incorporated territories were officially organized by Congress with an Organic Act on the first date listed. Each was admitted as a U.S. state (of the same name, except where noted) on the second date listed. Often, outlying portions of a territory were not included in the new state.

• Northwest Territory, 1787-1803 (Ohio)
• Southwest Territory, 1790-1796 (Tennessee)
• Mississippi Territory, 1798-1817
• Indiana Territory, 1800-1816
• Orleans Territory, 1804-1812 (Louisiana)
• Michigan Territory, 1805-1837
• Louisiana Territory/Missouri Territory, 1805-1821
• Illinois Territory, 1809-1818
• Alabama Territory, 1817-1819
• Arkansas Territory, 1819-1836
• Florida Territory, 1822-1845
• Wisconsin Territory, 1836-1848
• Iowa Territory, 1838-1846
• Oregon Territory, 1848-1859
• Minnesota Territory, 1849-1858
• Utah Territory, 1850-1896
• New Mexico Territory, 1850-1912
• Washington Territory, 1853-1889
• Kansas Territory, 1854-1861
• Nebraska Territory, 1854-1867
• Colorado Territory, 1861-1876
• Dakota Territory, 1861-1889 (North Dakota and South Dakota)
• Nevada Territory, 1861-1864
• Arizona Territory, 1863-1912
• Idaho Territory, 1863-1890
• Montana Territory, 1864-1889
• Wyoming Territory, 1868-1890
• Oklahoma Territory, 1890-1907
• Hawaii Territory, 1900-1959
• Alaska Territory, 1912-1959

• Note that common regional names such as Louisiana Purchase, Indian Territory, and Oregon Country were never formally organized as territories.
• During the American Civil War, there was (at least nominally) a Confederate-established Arizona Territory (1861-1865), which split Arizona and New Mexico along an east-west line instead of the modern north-south line.
• Of the current 50 U.S. states, all were at one time or another part of a U.S. territory with the following exceptions: the original Thirteen Colonies; Kentucky and West Virginia (both split off from Virginia); Maine (split off from Massachusetts); California (created as a state out of the unorganized territory of the Mexican Cession); and Vermont and Texas (both previously self-declared republics).
• Since 1959, there have been no incorporated U.S. territories formally organized by an Organic Act.
• The only remaining part of the United States proper that is not part of a state (i.e., the only incorporated unorganized territory) is Palmyra Atoll, which was part of the Territory of Hawaii but was not included in the State of Hawaii upon statehood.

• Territorial evolution of the United States
• Organized territory
• Incorporated territory