State Capitals Quiz

Spelling has a little slack: one small typo is forgiven on longer names. Beyond that, the spelling has to be right, which is why the next section exists.

Spellings that trip people up

• Tallahassee (Florida): double l, double s, double e.
• Cheyenne (Wyoming): two n's, and it ends in -enne.
• Montpelier (Vermont): one l, and the ending is -ier.
• Harrisburg (Pennsylvania): double r, and -burg with no h at the end.
• Des Moines (Iowa): the s's are silent when you say it, but they are in the spelling.
• Pierre (South Dakota): spelled like the French name, said like 'peer'.
• Baton Rouge (Louisiana), Santa Fe (New Mexico) and Little Rock (Arkansas) are two words each.
• Honolulu (Hawaii): H-o-n-o-l-u-l-u, the two o's first and then the two u's.

Learn them by region, not alphabet

Fifty capitals in alphabetical order is a list you will forget by the weekend. Grouped by region, each set is short and the capitals reinforce each other, because you already know where the states sit.

• New England, north to south: Augusta (Maine), Concord (New Hampshire), Montpelier (Vermont), Boston (Massachusetts), Providence (Rhode Island), Hartford (Connecticut).
• Mid-Atlantic: Albany (New York), Trenton (New Jersey), Harrisburg (Pennsylvania), Dover (Delaware), Annapolis (Maryland). None of them is the state's best-known city.
• Pacific: Olympia (Washington), Salem (Oregon), Sacramento (California), Juneau (Alaska), Honolulu (Hawaii).
• Mountain West: Helena (Montana), Boise (Idaho), Cheyenne (Wyoming), Salt Lake City (Utah), Denver (Colorado), Carson City (Nevada), Phoenix (Arizona), Santa Fe (New Mexico).
• Plains: Bismarck (North Dakota), Pierre (South Dakota), Lincoln (Nebraska), Topeka (Kansas), Oklahoma City (Oklahoma), Austin (Texas).

What to do with the misses

When you miss one, the quiz moves on, so keep a scrap of paper beside you and note the state. After a full round, read your misses aloud with their states, then leave them alone. Coming back to Type mode the next day works better than three rounds back to back, because the second day shows you what actually stuck.

If the same three or four keep beating you, give each one a hook of your own. A silly one is fine. You only need it until the capital comes back without it.

Other ways in

If typing cold is too steep a start, the states and capitals quiz gives you four options per state, and Choice mode on this page does the same. Learn mode shows every state's name and capital on hover. The state capitals list is the full table to study from, and the states and capitals worksheet prints the same 50 for writing by hand, with an answer key.

Washington, D.C. is a federal district, not a state, and is optional. For a class, Type mode suits individual practice on laptops, while Choice works better for the whole room on one screen.

All the states and capitals in this quiz

The 50 states. Washington, D.C. is a federal district and is optional. Borders and names policy.

Names and capitals: CIA World Factbook (final edition), checked against Wikidata and Natural Earth. State capitals: Wikidata and Natural Earth, which must agree. Flags: flag-icons, each checked against Wikimedia Commons. See sources. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.