The term stateside originated as U.S. slang in the World War II era, meaning "to, toward or in the United States", usually spoken by a soldier or other U.S. citizen who at that moment was outside the country. If a serviceman was looking forward to a leave allowing him to visit home, he might say with enthusiasm: "I'll be going stateside next month!". After the war, Alaskans picked up on the usage to mean the 48 contiguous states, so that an Alaskan "going stateside" meant one who was traveling south to those states.

"Stateside" is a song written by David Bowie and Hunt Sales for Tin Machine on their Tin Machine II album in 1991. The song features Hunt Sales on lead vocals.