Sonora borders the state of Chihuahua to the east, Sinaloa to the south and Baja California to the northwest; to the north it shares an extensive border with the U.S. state of Arizona and a shorter one with New Mexico. To its west lies the Gulf of California; the state of Baja California Sur also shares a maritime boundary with Sonora.
The border with Chihuahua is 592 km, and the border with Sinaloa is 117 km. Sonora's border with Arizona is 568 km long, and its border with New Mexico is 20 km long; these borders allow for multiple economic, cultural, and political ties with the United States. The state's total perimeter is 2,505 km. Sonora is the second largest state in Mexico (184,934 km²), representing 9.2% of the nation's total area.
Sonora consists of four physiographic regions: The Sierra Madre Occidental, Parallel Mountains and Valleys, the Sonoran Desert, and the Coast of the Gulf of California. Sonora is located in a climactic strip in the northern hemisphere that has formed various deserts around the globe. The state is located at the same latitude as the deserts of North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and other regions. Extreme high temperatures, upwards of 49C or higher occur in summer in desert areas while winters although short, are cool compared with most of Mexico, snow covering the peaks of the Sierra Madra Occidental.
An extensive network of roads, the backbone of which is a four-lane highway that crosses the state from south to north, joins Sonora with the rest of Mexico and with the United States.