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Games / 50 States Quiz
There are 50 states in the United States of America, and this free 50 states quiz asks you to find every one. A state is named and you click it on the map, 10 states a round, at three levels from Easy to So Difficult. There is no time limit and no sign up. For the hard version, turn on No borders: the state lines disappear, and every click scores up to 100 points by how close it lands. Or drag the names, or the state flags, onto the map: like labelling a worksheet map, on screen. Below the game is a map of all 50 states, the full list by region, and answers to the questions people ask most. Know them by heart? Try the US states quiz and type all 50 from memory.
Last updated October 2026
How the US States Map Is Laid Out
The United States has 50 states, and learning to place them on a map is easier when you stop treating them as one big block and read the country by region instead. The Census Bureau uses four regions: the Northeast, the Midwest, the South and the West. Most schools teach five, with a Southwest made of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma.
The eastern third of the country is packed with small states: you could fit a dozen Northeastern states into the space of a single Western one. The middle of the country is a grid of large, rectangular Plains and Mountain states, and the West is a handful of very large states plus the two outliers, Alaska and Hawaii, which are usually drawn as insets in the lower-left corner of the map.
Learn the Map by Region
The fastest way to master the map is to lock in one region at a time. Here are the four Census regions:
The Northeast: a dense cluster from Maine down through New England (New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut) to the Mid-Atlantic (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania). These small states cause the most misclicks because they are so tightly packed.
The Midwest: the Great Lakes states (Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota) and the Plains (Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas). Michigan is the easy anchor thanks to its mitten shape.
The South: a broad band from Texas and Oklahoma across to Florida and up the Atlantic coast through the Carolinas and Virginia.
The West: the big rectangular Mountain states (Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada) and the Pacific coast (California, Oregon, Washington), plus Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Alaska, and Hawaii.
The States People Misplace Most
A few states are famously hard to locate, usually because they are small, landlocked, or easily confused with a neighbour:
The rectangle twins: Colorado and Wyoming are both near-perfect rectangles stacked in the Mountain West; Wyoming sits on top of Colorado.
The Dakotas: North Dakota is above South Dakota (alphabetical top-to-bottom), a handy rule that also works for the Carolinas and the Virginias.
The Four Corners: Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet at a single point, the only place in the US where four states touch. Picturing that cross fixes all four at once.
New England: the six small northeastern states are the single biggest source of mistakes. Drill them as their own mini-map.
Tips for the Interactive Map Quiz
Our free 50 states quiz shows you a state name and asks you to click it on the map, with no time limit. A few tactics make a big difference:
Start on Easy (the most famous states) to build a mental frame: California, Texas, Florida and New York. Then work outward to their neighbours. Use the coasts and the Great Lakes as anchors: once you can place the border states, the interior states fall into place by elimination.
Remember that Alaska and Hawaii are drawn as insets in the lower-left, not in their true geographic positions. Testing yourself is far more effective than staring at a labelled map, so replay the quiz until you can place all 50 without hesitating.
The United States has 50 states. Alaska is the largest and Rhode Island the smallest, and in alphabetical order they run from Alabama to Wyoming. On most maps Alaska and Hawaii are drawn as insets. The tightly packed New England states are the hardest to place, while the Four Corners, where Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico meet, is the only point in the country where four states touch.
States
50
Largest
Alaska
Smallest
Rhode Island
First and last, A to Z
Alabama, Wyoming
Shown as insets
Alaska & Hawaii
Trickiest cluster
New England (6 states)
All 50 States by Region
The five regions most US schools teach. Each has its own map quiz with the state capitals. The Census Bureau uses four regions instead, so a few states, such as Texas, Maryland and Delaware, sit in a different group there.
Northeast(11 states)
Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont
Northeast states quiz →Southeast(12 states)
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia
Southeast states quiz →Midwest(12 states)
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin
Midwest states quiz →West(11 states)
Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming
Western states quiz →Frequently Asked Questions
How many states are in the United States?
There are 50 states. Washington, D.C. is a federal district, not a state, and Puerto Rico, Guam and the other territories are not states either. Hawaii was the last to join, in 1959. On most maps, including this one, Alaska and Hawaii are drawn as insets in the lower left so all 50 fit in one view.
What is the smallest state?
Rhode Island, at about 1,545 square miles including its water. Delaware is second and Connecticut third. All three are on the crowded east coast, which is why they are easy to miss on the map.
What is the largest state?
Alaska, at about 665,000 square miles, more than twice the size of Texas. Texas is the largest of the 48 states below Canada, followed by California and Montana.
Which state is last in alphabetical order?
Wyoming is last and Alabama is first. Wisconsin, West Virginia and Washington come just before Wyoming.
What is the easiest way to learn the US states map?
Learn the map one region at a time instead of all 50 at once. Anchor on the coastal and Great Lakes states first, use shapes as landmarks (Michigan's mitten, Florida's panhandle, the Colorado and Wyoming rectangles), and test yourself with a click the map quiz.
Which US states are the hardest to locate on a map?
The small New England states (New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut) are the most misplaced because they are tightly packed. The landlocked Plains and Mountain states, like the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas and the Colorado and Wyoming pair, are also often confused with their neighbours.
Where are the Four Corners on the US map?
The Four Corners is the only point in the United States where four states meet: Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico all touch at a single spot in the Southwest. Remembering that crossing helps you place all four states at once.
Is the 50 states quiz free?
Yes. The quiz runs free in your browser with no download and no sign up. You see a state name and click it on the map, with no time limit. Sign in with Google only if you want to save your score.