States and Capitals Quiz

All 50 state capitals are in the set. Because the state stays on the map while you answer, you learn where each one sits at the same time as its capital.

Capitals that are not the big city

Many state capitals are smaller, quieter cities than the one the state is known for. They are where most points are lost, because the famous city is sitting right there in your head, ready to be picked.

• New York: Albany, not New York City.
• California: Sacramento, not Los Angeles or San Francisco.
• Illinois: Springfield, not Chicago.
• Florida: Tallahassee, not Miami.
• Pennsylvania: Harrisburg, not Philadelphia or Pittsburgh.
• Washington: Olympia, not Seattle.
• Kentucky: Frankfort, not Louisville.
• Nevada: Carson City, not Las Vegas.

And the ones that really are

The opposite trap catches people who have just learned the list above and start distrusting every obvious answer. Boston, Atlanta, Denver, Phoenix, Honolulu and Indianapolis are all state capitals. If the big name is one of the four options, it is not automatically wrong.

Memory hooks

• Named after presidents: Jefferson City (Missouri), Lincoln (Nebraska), Madison (Wisconsin) and Jackson (Mississippi).
• Columbia is South Carolina's capital; Columbus is Ohio's. Charleston is the capital of West Virginia, not South Carolina.
• There is an Augusta in Georgia, but the capital Augusta is in Maine. Georgia's capital is Atlanta.
• The Dakotas stack, and so do their capitals: Bismarck in the north, Pierre in the south. Pierre is said like 'peer'.
• Saint Paul, not Minneapolis, is the capital of Minnesota. The two are the Twin Cities, side by side on the Mississippi River, and only one of them is the capital.
• Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, Jefferson City and Carson City are the capitals with 'City' in the name.

How the modes differ

Choice is the default here because recognizing a capital comes before recalling it. When four options start to feel easy, switch to Type, or go to the state capitals quiz, which starts in Type mode and asks you to spell each capital with nothing to choose from. Click mode moves the work onto the map, and Learn shows each state's name and capital when you hover over it, with no score.

Washington, D.C. is a federal district, not a state, and is optional.

In the classroom

Choice mode reads aloud well: show the state, read the four capitals and take a show of hands before you click. For paper practice, the states and capitals worksheet has two shuffled versions, A and B, so neighbors cannot copy, each with its own answer key. The state capitals list is the full reference table to study from before a round.

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.