Based on the celebrated three-volume Columbia Gazetteer of the World, this volume offers 50,000 entries on places in North America, arranged in alphabetical order. Designed for ease of use and maximum access to the widest amount of information, the Columbia Gazetteer of North America is a core reference work for any library, public or private, governmental or educational. Whether it is an entry of a few lines on China, Texas, or hundreds of lines on New York City, the entries are packed with information, such as:

- descriptions of physical geography

- political boundaries

- historical, political, cultural, and economic descriptions

- natural, agricultural, and other resources

- principal trade, business, and industrial activities

- highways, railroads, canals, and pipelines

- points of interest

- population from the most recent national censuses

- latitude, longitude, and elevation

- official place-names

- changed or variant names and spellings

- pronunciations

- and much more.