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United States of America

10:19 image by Zoltan Horvath, 10 December 2024
Flag adopted 4 July 1960, coat of arms adopted 20 June 1782.
Flag Color Shades

The U.S. flag consists of 13 stripes, alternate red and white, representing the 13 original colonies/states. The canton consists of a blue field containing a white star for every state in the union.

Evolution of the Stars and Stripes (13-51 Stars ...) U.S. Flags with -Unofficial- Number of Stars
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What Shade of Red/White/Blue Designer of the U.S. flag National Colors Coat of Arms U.S. Flag Code Flag Sizes/Proportions Use of the U.S. flag in mourning Five-pointed Stars on flags Flag Laws in the United States Flag Burning Debate The Fringe Argument Folding the U.S. flag Where U.S. Flag Flies 24 Hours a Day Special Flag Flying Days Signal Flags and Warning Flags Presidential Campaign Flags	Legends & Lore Flag Urban Legends (Civilian Flag ) Fictional Flags inspired by the U.S. national flag Reverse depictions of the U.S. flags Vertical hanging The U.S. flag in art Books on U.S. flags Patriotic Decorations Variations of the U.S. flag Novelty flags Religious flags U.S. Flags with gold stars Commemorative Flags Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-81 September 11th Commemorative Flags Famous flags
Other Flags:
Airfield Vehicle Safety flags Aircraft Markings Bethel flag Clean Marina flags Millennium flag	U.S. District Court National Geographic Society flag U.S. Space flags Space Shuttle flags Police flags U.S. Olympic flags

See also:

Clickable map of the United States
Coloring Book of Flags
Vexillological Associations for you flag buffs
U.S. Minor Outlying Islands
Guam
Puerto Rico
American Samoa
Northern Mariana Islands
Virgin Islands

External sites:
United States Flag History Pages by Dave Martucci
Patriotic Symbols

In 1960, a star was added, representing Hawaii, bringing the total number of stars to 50. There are thirteen stripes representing the thirteen original colonies.

According to President Dwight Eisenhower's Executive Order (#10834, published 25 August, 1959) the 50-Star flag would become the "official flag of the United States on July 4, 1960."
Nick Artimovich, 21 February 1996

What Shade of Red/White/Blue

The official specification for federal procurements of U.S. flags is set by the General Services Administration. At the Defense Technology Information Center website www.dtic.mil is GSA "Federal Specification, Flag, National, United States of America and Flag, Union Jack," DD-F-416F, dated March 31, 2005. It specifies the colors by reference to "Standard Color Cards of America" maintained by the Color Association of the United States, Inc. This is a color system designed for textile use - appropriate, since flags are made of cloth! The specifications are:
Cable No. 70180 Old Glory Red
Cable No. 70001 White
Cable No. 70075 Old Glory Blue

Various sources give different Pantone equivalencies for these colors. The most plausibly authoritative are those provided on miscellaneous American Embassy websites, including American Embassy London. It gives the red as PMS 193 and the blue as PMS 282. On the other hand, Texas state law says the Texas state flag has the same colors as the U.S. flag, and that they are red PMS193 and blue PMS281.

It should be noted that flags produced other than for the executive branch of the government are not bound by any of this.
Joe McMillan, 25 September 2001

In the mid or late 1950s, (if I'm not mistaken), the US government intentionally "darkened" the shade of red used in American flags. Before this, the color of red used in US flags was sometimes referred to as "Chinese" red. Well, with anti-communist sentiment being rather high at the time, it simply wouldn't do to have Chinese red stripes on the American flag and thus the change. To most folks who even pay attention it's a very subtle thing.
Clay Moss, 31 January 2007

It's hard to know what the colors of actual old flags originally were, because there were no specifications in many cases and the examples we have will have faded. There was a change in the color specification at some point in the mid-20th century, at least with regard to the blue. It was changed from "national flag blue" to "Old Glory blue." There are still some official US flags that use "national flag blue"--the color of infantry regiments, I think, and the flag of the Secretary of State. "Old Glory blue" is just a little darker. But within the standard palette used on FOTW, both of them would be B+++ (RGB 0:0:102); there's not enough of a difference between them to justify using a lighter shade for NF blue.

Don't recall what the former shade of red was called (Clay says Chinese red, but I think that's more of a characterization than an official name), but I would guess that the present "Old Glory red" came into use at the same time as "Old Glory blue."
Joe McMillan, 31 January 2007

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs issued a Design Guide in January 2017, it contains color values in Pantone, CMYK and RGB systems: https://eca.state.gov/files/bureau/eca_design_guide.pdf
Old Glory Blue: Pantone: 282C, CMYK: 100-68-0-54, RGB: 10-49-97
Old Glory Red: Pantone: 193C, CMYK: 0-100-66-13, RGB: 179-25-66
White: CMYK: 0-0-0-0, RGB: 255-255-255
Zoltan Horvath, 8 December 2024

Other sources for colors:
The Flag Manual - Beijing 2008 gives Pantone colors: PMS 179 (red), and PMS 281 (blue).

The Album des Pavillons 2000 [pay00] (Corr. No. 3.) gives approximate colors in Pantone and CMYK systems:
Red: Pantone 200c, CMYK 0-100-65-15
Dark blue: Pantone 280c, CMYK 100-70-0-15
Blue: Pantone 307c, CMYK 100-5-0-30

The Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012 [loc12] gives Pantone colors: PMS 281 (blue), and PMS 193 (red).

The Album des Pavillons 2023 specifies the colors of the flags in three color systems:
Blue: Pantone 2768c, CMYK 100-84-36-23, RGB 10-49-97
Blue: Pantone 307c, CMYK 89-51-11-1, RGB 0-107-166
Red: Pantone 7636c, CMYK 21-99-59-13, RGB 179-25-66

Vexilla Mundi gives colors in Pantone system: PMS White, PMS 200C (red), and PMS 280C (blue).

Wikipedia illustrates the flag, and construction details, and refers to Federal Specification DDD-F-416F and document issued by Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Flag Color Codes gives the following color values:
Old Glory Red: Hex #B31942, RGB 179-25-66, CMYK 0-100-66-13, Pantone 193, RAL 3027
White: Hex #FFFFFF, RGB 255-255-255, CMYK 0-0-0-0, Pantone N/A, RAL N/A
Old Glory Blue: Hex #0A3161, RGB 10-49-97, CMYK 100-68-0-54, Pantone 281, RAL 5026
Zoltan Horvath, 8 December 2024

Cable Colors are also used officially in the United States. Many government flags use cable colors, including those used by the Department of Defense. The current military flag specification, DDD-F-416F (2005) states the following:
"3.5 Color. The colors, from the Standard Color Reference of America, 10th Edition (see 2.2), of
the US National Flag are as follows: Old Glory Red , White , Old Glory Blue" (http://everyspec.com/FED_SPECS/F/download.php?spec=DDD-F-416F.049205.pdf, pp. 9-10). While Wikipedia gives the codes in the article, they are not directly stated in this document. I assume they got it from FOTW. The previous iteration of the document (416E, 1981) does repeat these code numbers (http://everyspec.com/FED_SPECS/F/DDD-F-416E_49206, page 9). A document called A-A-52696 for burial flags does give updated cable colors; Cable No. 80075 for OG Blue, Cable No. 80108 for OG Red and Cable No. 80002 for white. The colors can be seen (painstakingly) at https://www.colorassociation.com/color-names.
Zachary Harden, 8 December 2024

The US Army Institute of Heraldry is the official arbiter of color and other specifications for flags used by the government. They use cable numbers, not RGB or CMYK for color specifications.
Red = 70180, Old Glory Red
White = 70001, White
Blue = 70075, Old Glory Blue
Dave Fowler, 8 December 2024

US Ensign

The ensign of the United States is the same as the national flag - the Stars and Stripes.

As far as I have ever been able to determine, there are no laws, regulations, orders, etc., regulating the methods of displaying the ensign on US merchant ships, other than those prescribed by the same Flag Code that pertain on land--which has the standing of a recommended code of best practices without any penal provisions. Merchant vessels' display of the US flag is governed largely by custom, not by regulation or law.
Joe McMillan, 3 July 2005