IllinoisEast North Central. The capital is Springfield. Chicago is the most populous city of the state and of the whole Midwest. Admitted as the 21st state on December 3, 1818. The town of Cairo stands at its southern tip.
IndianaEast North Central. The capital is Indianapolis, also its most populous city. Admitted as the 19th state on December 11, 1816. It is the smallest of the 12 Midwest states by area. The Wabash River forms part of its border with Illinois.
MichiganEast North Central. The capital is Lansing. Detroit is the most populous city. Admitted as the 26th state on January 26, 1837. The Mackinac Bridge, 5 miles long, links its two peninsulas across the Straits of Mackinac.
OhioEast North Central. The capital is Columbus, also its most populous city. It is counted as the 17th state, with the date March 1, 1803, which Congress set in 1953. It was the first state admitted under the Northwest Ordinance.
WisconsinEast North Central. The capital is Madison. Milwaukee is the most populous city. Admitted as the 30th state on May 29, 1848. The thumb on its east side is the Door Peninsula, which separates Green Bay from Lake Michigan.
West North Central 7
IowaWest North Central. The capital is Des Moines, its most populous city. Admitted as the 29th state on December 28, 1846. Six states touch it. No other state has east and west borders formed almost entirely by rivers.
KansasWest North Central. The capital is Topeka. Wichita is the most populous city. Admitted as the 34th state on January 29, 1861. The geographic center of the 48 contiguous states is in Smith County, near the town of Lebanon.
MinnesotaWest North Central. The capital is Saint Paul. Minneapolis is the most populous city. Admitted as the 32nd state on May 11, 1858. The Mississippi River begins here, at Lake Itasca. Its Northwest Angle lies north of the 49th parallel.
MissouriWest North Central. The capital is Jefferson City. Kansas City is the most populous city. Admitted as the 24th state on August 10, 1821. It touches eight states, a count only Tennessee matches.
NebraskaWest North Central. The capital is Lincoln. Omaha is the most populous city. Admitted as the 37th state on March 1, 1867. Since 1937 its legislature has had a single house. It is the only triply landlocked state.
North DakotaWest North Central. The capital is Bismarck. Fargo is the most populous city. Admitted on November 2, 1889, the same day as South Dakota, and counted as the 39th state because it comes first in the alphabet.
South DakotaWest North Central. The capital is Pierre. Sioux Falls is the most populous city. Admitted as the 40th state on November 2, 1889. The Missouri River splits it into East River and West River. Mount Rushmore is in its southwest.
How this list was compiled: State list and the two divisions: U.S. Census Bureau, Census Regions and Divisions of the United States, https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/maps/reference/us_regdiv.pdf, checked 2026-09-19 (Region 2 Midwest: Division 3 East North Central, Division 4 West North Central; a footnote says the region was designated the North Central Region before June 1984). Order and dates of admission, and the notes on Ohio, North Dakota and South Dakota: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_date_of_admission_to_the_Union, checked 2026-09-19. Capitals and most populous cities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_capitals_in_the_United_States, checked 2026-09-19. Borders, lakes, rivers and the last fact in each detail line: the Wikipedia articles on each of the twelve states, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Door_Peninsula, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Angle, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_River_of_the_North, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_River and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area, checked 2026-09-19. The region and its names: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States, checked 2026-09-19. Hints and detail lines written for this site. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site from U.S. Census Bureau 2023 cartographic boundary file cb_2023_us_state_5m (scale 1:5,000,000), https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/GENZ2023/shp/cb_2023_us_state_5m.zip, downloaded 2026-09-19. Surrounding land from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_0_countries_lakes (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_0_countries_lakes.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Albers equal-area conic projection, central meridian 91.7°W, standard parallels 38.2°N and 47.2°N. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. Licence: public domain (work of the United States government, 17 U.S.C. 105): https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/data/tiger/tgrshp2023/TGRSHP2023_TechDoc_Ch1.pdf; public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This Midwest blank map shows the 12 states of the Census Bureau Midwest region, from Ohio and Michigan in the east to the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas in the west.
Read the full guide
Blank, numbered or named
The sheet opens blank. Choose Numbered to put a number on each of the 12 states of the Midwest, or Named for their names, then press Print this map; the answer key prints on its own sheet.
A blank map of Midwest states in two divisions
The Census Bureau splits the Midwest in two: East North Central (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin) and West North Central (Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas). Four of the Great Lakes border the region.
For a Midwest region map blank worksheet, print Numbered and have students write each capital beside its state.
Questions and answers
Which states are in the Midwest?
Twelve, in the Census Bureau list: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
Which is the largest Midwest state?
Kansas by land, and Minnesota once its many lakes are counted. Indiana is the smallest Midwest state by area.
Is Michigan in two pieces?
Yes. Michigan is split into the Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula, joined by the Mackinac Bridge. Both pieces carry the same number.