The federal trial court system is laid out as a map of 94 judicial districts covering every county in the United States, grouped into 12 regional circuits plus a specialized Federal Circuit with nationwide reach. To use the US district courts map for your own situation, the fastest route is the court locator at uscourts.gov, which takes an address, city, or ZIP code and returns the district, division, and courthouse that serve that location.1United States Courts. United States Courts – Find a Federal Court District boundaries follow state and county lines, so once you know the relevant county, the assignment is fixed.
How the 94 Districts Are Laid Out
Congress sets the boundaries of each district by statute, with one section of the U.S. Code devoted to each state plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, found at 28 U.S.C. §§ 81 through 131.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code Chapter 5 – District Courts Every state has at least one federal judicial district. More populated states are divided into two, three, or four. California, New York, and Texas each have four districts named Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western. States like Alaska, Montana, and Vermont have a single district that covers the whole state.
District courts also operate in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Puerto Rico’s district court is a full Article III court, so its judges have lifetime tenure like mainland federal judges. The courts in the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands are territorial courts established under Congress’s power to govern the territories, and their judges serve fixed terms.3United States Government Manual. Territorial Courts Every district also contains a bankruptcy court as a specialized unit, with its own bankruptcy judges handling filings referred by the district court.4United States Courts. About U.S. Bankruptcy Courts
The 12 Regional Circuits and Which States Belong to Each
Each district court sits inside one of 12 regional circuits, which handle appeals from the district courts below them. When a losing party appeals a trial-court decision, the case goes to the circuit court covering that district.5United States Courts. About the U.S. Courts of Appeals The composition is set by 28 U.S.C. § 41:6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 41 – Number and Composition of Circuits
- First Circuit: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Puerto Rico
- Second Circuit: Connecticut, New York, Vermont
- Third Circuit: Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virgin Islands
- Fourth Circuit: Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia
- Fifth Circuit: Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas
- Sixth Circuit: Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee
- Seventh Circuit: Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin
- Eighth Circuit: Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota
- Ninth Circuit: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands
- Tenth Circuit: Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming
- Eleventh Circuit: Alabama, Florida, Georgia
- D.C. Circuit: District of Columbia
Circuit lines are more than organizational. An appeals court’s ruling on a federal statute binds every district court within that circuit. A Ninth Circuit decision governs district courts in California, Arizona, and the other Ninth Circuit states, but a district court in Texas, which sits in the Fifth Circuit, is not bound by it. These regional splits can produce conflicting rules in different parts of the country, and resolving those conflicts is one of the main reasons the Supreme Court agrees to hear a case.
The Federal Circuit Sits Outside the Map
A thirteenth circuit does not appear on the geographic map at all. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has nationwide jurisdiction defined by the type of case rather than by location.7United States Government Manual. United States Courts of Appeals If a patent case is tried in any federal district court in the country, the appeal travels to the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., not to the regional circuit for that district.
The Federal Circuit’s exclusive jurisdiction covers patents, certain government contract claims, international trade disputes, veterans’ benefits appeals, and cases from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the Court of International Trade.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1295 – Jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Routing these specialized areas through one court keeps the law in them uniform across all 94 districts, instead of fragmenting into 12 regional versions.
Divisions Within a District
Most districts are split further into divisions, each covering a cluster of counties around a particular courthouse. Tennessee is divided into three districts (Eastern, Middle, and Western), and the Eastern District alone has four divisions: Northern, Northeastern, Southern, and Winchester.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 123 – Tennessee Michigan’s two districts are each divided into two divisions.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 102 – Michigan
Divisions mostly exist to keep the courthouse closer to the litigants and witnesses. Each district court can also adopt its own local rules on how cases are managed, filed, and scheduled.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 2071 – Rule-Making Power Generally Those rules vary from district to district, covering things like page limits, hearing requirements, and filing procedures. Individual court websites usually publish a county-by-county division map, which is worth checking because the division decides which courthouse processes the filing and sometimes which judges draw the case.
Picking the Right District for a Case
Knowing which district covers a county is only half the question. Federal venue rules decide which district is the legally correct one for a specific lawsuit. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1391, a civil case can generally be filed in one of three places:12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1391 – Venue Generally
- Any district where a defendant resides, as long as all defendants live in the same state.
- Any district where a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or where a substantial part of the property at issue is located.
- If neither of those works, any district where any defendant is subject to the court’s personal jurisdiction.
Most cases get filed either where the defendant lives or where the key events happened. A car accident in the Northern District of Georgia involving a defendant who lives in the Southern District of Florida could potentially be filed in either district. The choice affects travel, which judges hear the case, and which local rules apply. A court can also transfer a case to another district when it would be more convenient for the parties and witnesses.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1404 – Change of Venue
When the Map Does Not Apply
Federal district courts do not hear every type of case. They take civil matters that fall into two categories. The first is federal question jurisdiction: cases arising under the U.S. Constitution, a federal statute, or a treaty.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1331 – Federal Question Civil rights claims, patent disputes, federal tax issues, and federal criminal charges fit here.
The second is diversity jurisdiction: lawsuits between citizens of different states, or between a U.S. citizen and a foreign citizen, when the amount in dispute exceeds $75,000.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1332 – Diversity of Citizenship A $50,000 contract dispute between residents of different states stays in state court. The same dispute at $80,000 could be filed federally. If a case does not involve a federal law and does not meet the diversity requirements, it belongs in state court, and the federal district map is not the one you need.