Southwest States Quiz – Four States or the Wider Eight

All 8 states on the diagram

Show the list

Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma 4

Arizona The capital is Phoenix. Arizona became the 48th state on February 14, 1912.
New Mexico The capital is Santa Fe. It became the 47th state: January 6, 1912.
Oklahoma The capital is Oklahoma City. Oklahoma became the 46th state on November 16, 1907.
Texas The capital is Austin. Texas became the 28th state on December 29, 1845.

Other 4

California The capital is Sacramento. California became the 31st state on September 9, 1850.
Colorado The capital is Denver. Colorado became the 38th state: August 1, 1876.
Nevada The capital is Carson City. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31, 1864.
Utah The capital is Salt Lake City. Utah became the 45th state on January 4, 1896.

How this list was compiled: The Southwest is not a Census Bureau region and has no official list. The four-state list (Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas) is the Southwest of National Geographic Education's United States Regions, https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/united-states-regions/, read 2026-10-01, and of https://www.ducksters.com/geography/us_states/us_geographical_regions.php, read 2026-10-01. The wider list adds California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah, the states https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwestern_United_States names as counted in or out depending on the boundaries used (Arizona and New Mexico are its core), read 2026-10-01. Census placing (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah in the Mountain division and California in the Pacific division of the West; Oklahoma and Texas in the West South Central division of the South): https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/maps/reference/us_regdiv.pdf, read 2026-10-01. Order and dates of admission: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_date_of_admission_to_the_Union, read 2026-10-01. Capitals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_capitals_in_the_United_States, read 2026-10-01. Rivers in the hints: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River (the Arizona border with Nevada and California) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Grande (the boundary between Mexico and the United States from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico), read 2026-10-01. Hints describe the drawing and were 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 106.2°W, standard parallels 28.5°N and 39.3°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 southwest states quiz opens on the list most classes use: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. It names one state at a time, and you tap it on the map.

Read the full guide

Which states are in the Southwest

The Southwest is not a Census Bureau region, so no list is official. This southwest map quiz opens on the four-state list that National Geographic's school maps use. The Census Bureau itself files Arizona and New Mexico under the West, and Texas and Oklahoma under the South.

The wider list

Some books draw the region wider. All 8 states, under Start from, adds California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado and zooms out to show them. Until you choose it, those four are on the map with no name.

Arizona and New Mexico stand side by side under Utah and Colorado. New Mexico is the one that touches Texas.
Oklahoma is the pan and its handle points west; Texas is the big shape the pan sits on.

Questions and answers

Is California in the Southwest?

Sometimes. The four-state school list leaves it out, and the Census Bureau puts it in the Pacific division of the West. Wider lists count California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado, and this quiz asks them when you choose All 8.

What is Four Corners?

The one point where four states meet: Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. On this map it is where the straight lines between those four states cross.

Why are Texas and Oklahoma on a Southwest quiz?

School lists of five regions put both in the Southwest with Arizona and New Mexico. The Census Bureau places them in the South, so they are asked on the Southeast states quiz as well.