• 50 capitals
  • Checked September 2026

State Capitals Quiz

Pick each state's capital from four cities, with the state lit on the map.

State Capitals Quiz

Name Date

What is the capital of Vermont?

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Write the name of each numbered capital.Answer key

  1. Olympia
  2. Helena
  3. Bismarck
  4. Saint Paul
  5. Madison
  6. Lansing
  7. Albany
  8. Montpelier
  9. Augusta
  10. Concord
  11. Boston
  12. Providence
  13. Hartford
  14. Trenton
  15. Dover
  16. Annapolis
  17. Salem
  18. Boise
  19. Cheyenne
  20. Pierre
  21. Lincoln
  22. Des Moines
  23. Springfield
  24. Indianapolis
  25. Columbus
  26. Harrisburg
  27. Sacramento
  28. Carson City
  29. Salt Lake City
  30. Denver
  31. Topeka
  32. Jefferson City
  33. Frankfort
  34. Charleston
  35. Richmond
  36. Phoenix
  37. Santa Fe
  38. Oklahoma City
  39. Little Rock
  40. Nashville
  41. Raleigh
  42. Columbia
  43. Austin
  44. Baton Rouge
  45. Jackson
  46. Montgomery
  47. Atlanta
  48. Tallahassee
  49. Juneau
  50. Honolulu

Drawn for this site from the U.S. Census Bureau 2023. Licence: public domain.

Each capital is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a capital is answered.

Next step Same map, no capitals: find the 50 states

All 50 capitals on the diagram

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Northeast 9

  1. Albany Capital of New York. It lies on the west bank of the Hudson River, about ten miles south of where the Mohawk River joins it. It had 99,224 people at the 2020 census; New York City has millions.
  2. Montpelier Capital of Vermont. With 8,074 people at the 2020 census it is the smallest state capital. It is named after Montpellier in the south of France, which is spelled with one more l. Burlington is the largest city.
  3. Augusta Capital of Maine, on the Kennebec River. With 18,899 people at the 2020 census it is the third-smallest state capital. Portland is the largest city in the state.
  4. Concord Capital of New Hampshire and its third-largest city, after Manchester and Nashua. It had 43,976 people at the 2020 census and is the seat of Merrimack County.
  5. Boston Capital of Massachusetts and its largest city, with 675,647 people at the 2020 census. English Puritan settlers founded it on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630. It is the largest city in New England.
  6. Providence Capital of Rhode Island and its largest city. With 190,934 people at the 2020 census it is the third-largest city in New England.
  7. Hartford Capital of Connecticut. It has been the only capital since 1875; before that the job alternated with New Haven. Founded in 1635, it is one of the oldest cities in the country. Bridgeport is the largest city.
  8. Trenton Capital of New Jersey, on the Delaware River. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784. Newark is the state's largest city and Jersey City is second.
  9. Harrisburg Capital of Pennsylvania, on the east bank of the Susquehanna River. It had 50,099 people at the 2020 census. Philadelphia is the largest city and Pittsburgh is second.

Midwest 12

  1. Bismarck Capital of North Dakota since it became a state in 1889. It stands on the east bank of the Missouri River and is the second-largest city in the state, after Fargo.
  2. Saint Paul Capital of Minnesota and its second-largest city. With neighboring Minneapolis, the largest, it forms the Twin Cities. The Capitol stands on a hill above a bend in the Mississippi River.
  3. Madison Capital of Wisconsin and its second-largest city, after Milwaukee. Founded in 1836 and named after President James Madison, it has its downtown on an isthmus between Lakes Mendota and Monona.
  4. Lansing Capital of Michigan, in the middle of the Lower Peninsula. It had 112,644 people at the 2020 census. Detroit is the largest city and Grand Rapids is second.
  5. Pierre Capital of South Dakota since statehood in 1889, and said like the word peer. With 14,091 people at the 2020 census it is the second-smallest state capital. Sioux Falls is the largest city.
  6. Lincoln Capital of Nebraska and its second-largest city, after Omaha. It had 291,082 people at the 2020 census and is the seat of Lancaster County.
  7. Des Moines Capital of Iowa and its largest city, with 214,133 people at the 2020 census. It is named after the Des Moines River, a name that likely comes from the French for River of the Monks.
  8. Springfield Capital of Illinois. With 114,394 people at the 2020 census it is the largest city in Central Illinois, but Chicago, up on Lake Michigan, is many times larger.
  9. Indianapolis Capital of Indiana and its largest city. It lies on the west fork of the White River in the middle of the state, and its official slogan is Crossroads of America.
  10. Columbus Capital of Ohio and its largest city. With 905,748 people at the 2020 census it is the third most populous state capital, after Phoenix and Austin.
  11. Topeka Capital of Kansas. It lies along the Kansas River in the northeast of the state and had 126,587 people at the 2020 census. Wichita is the largest city.
  12. Jefferson City Capital of Missouri, informally called Jeff City. It had 43,228 people at the 2020 census. Kansas City is the largest city in the state and St. Louis is second.

South 16

  1. Dover Capital of Delaware and its second-largest city, after Wilmington. William Penn named it for Dover in Kent, England. It lies on the St. Jones River.
  2. Annapolis Capital of Maryland. It sits on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, 25 miles south of Baltimore, the state's largest city. The 2020 census counted 40,812 people.
  3. Frankfort Capital of Kentucky, on the Kentucky River. With 28,602 people at the 2020 census it is the fourth-smallest state capital. Louisville is the largest city and Lexington is second.
  4. Charleston Capital of West Virginia and its largest city, where the Elk and Kanawha rivers meet. It became the permanent capital in 1885. The other Charleston, in South Carolina, is not a capital.
  5. Richmond Capital of Virginia, at the fall line of the James River. It had 226,610 people at the 2020 census. Virginia Beach is the largest city.
  6. Oklahoma City Capital of Oklahoma and its largest city, often shortened to OKC. The capital moved here from Guthrie in 1910, the most recent move of any state capital.
  7. Little Rock Capital of Arkansas and its largest city, with 202,591 people at the 2020 census. It lies on the south bank of the Arkansas River, close to the geographic center of the state.
  8. Nashville Capital of Tennessee and its largest city, on the Cumberland River in Middle Tennessee. It is named for Francis Nash, a general of the Continental Army. Memphis is the second-largest city.
  9. Raleigh Capital of North Carolina and its second-largest city, after Charlotte. Known as the City of Oaks, it is named after Sir Walter Raleigh. It had 467,665 people at the 2020 census.
  10. Columbia Capital of South Carolina and its second-largest city, after Charleston. The name is a poetic personification of the United States. Locals shorten it to Cola, which gave it the nickname Soda City.
  11. Austin Capital of Texas. With 961,855 people at the 2020 census it is the second most populous state capital, after Phoenix, yet Houston, San Antonio and Dallas are all larger.
  12. Baton Rouge Capital of Louisiana and its second-largest city, after New Orleans. It stands on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, and its name is French for red stick.
  13. Jackson Capital of Mississippi and its largest city, on the Pearl River. The 2020 census counted 153,701 people.
  14. Montgomery Capital of Alabama. Named for Major-General Richard Montgomery of the Continental Army, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. Huntsville is the state's largest city.
  15. Atlanta Capital of Georgia and its largest city, with 498,715 people at the 2020 census. It lies among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, a little over 1,000 feet above sea level.
  16. Tallahassee Capital of Florida since 1824, when Florida was still a territory. It is the largest city in the Panhandle, a long way from the big cities of the peninsula. Jacksonville is the state's largest city.

West 13

  1. Olympia Capital of Washington. It lies at the south end of Puget Sound, 50 miles southwest of Seattle, the largest city. The 2020 census counted 55,605 people.
  2. Helena Capital of Montana and the seat of Lewis and Clark County. With 32,091 people at the 2020 census it is the fifth-smallest state capital. Billings is the largest city.
  3. Salem Capital of Oregon. It lies in the center of the Willamette Valley, beside the Willamette River, and had 175,535 people at the 2020 census. Portland is the largest city.
  4. Boise Capital of Idaho and its largest city. It is the center of the Treasure Valley, the most populous metropolitan area in the state.
  5. Cheyenne Capital of Wyoming and its largest city, with 65,132 people at the 2020 census. It is the seat of Laramie County, in the southeast corner of the state.
  6. Sacramento Capital of California. It sits where the Sacramento and American Rivers meet and was the state's sixth-largest city at the 2020 census, with 524,943 people. Los Angeles is the largest.
  7. Carson City Capital of Nevada since 1861, before statehood. It is named after the mountain man Kit Carson and lies about 30 miles south of Reno. Las Vegas is the largest city.
  8. Salt Lake City Capital of Utah and its largest city, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. It lies along the Wasatch Front and had 199,723 people at the 2020 census.
  9. Denver Capital of Colorado and its largest city, with 715,522 people at the 2020 census. It lies in the South Platte River valley, just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.
  10. Phoenix Capital of Arizona and its largest city, in the Salt River Valley. With over 1.6 million people at the 2020 census it is the most populous state capital in the country.
  11. Santa Fe Capital of New Mexico. At 6,998 feet it is the highest state capital, set in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Albuquerque is the largest city.
  12. Juneau Capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government moved from Sitka. It is named for the prospector Joe Juneau, and no road connects it to the rest of the state. Anchorage is the largest city.
  13. Honolulu Capital of Hawaii and its largest city, on the southeast coast of the island of Oahu. Like Juneau, it cannot be reached by road from the other states. The 2020 census counted 350,964 people.

How this list was compiled: Capitals, hints and detail lines written for this site and checked on 2026-09-19 against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_capitals_in_the_United_States (capital of each state, 2020 census populations), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_cities_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population (largest city of each state, July 2025 estimates) and the opening section of the Wikipedia article on each capital city. The map, the state points and the four U.S. Census Bureau regions are copied from data/us-states-quiz.json on this site. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site from the U.S. Census Bureau 2023 cartographic boundary file cb_2023_us_state_20m (scale 1:20,000,000), https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/GENZ2023/kml/cb_2023_us_state_20m.zip, downloaded 2026-09-18. Albers equal-area conic projection. Alaska is drawn at 35 percent of the scale of the other states and, like Hawaii, moved into an inset. 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

How it works

This state capitals quiz names a state, lights it on a map of the United States and asks for its capital: pick from four cities, or type it. Find it, under More options, runs the other way: a capital is named, say Pierre, and you tap or click the state it belongs to. At the end, the main button replays your misses.

Read the full guide

Two directions on one map

A states and capitals quiz at school usually runs one way. This one runs both. Find it is the capital and states quiz: a city is named, you tap its state, and a wrong tap tells you which capital you touched instead. Name it is the capital of states quiz: a state lights up and you answer with 4 choices or Type it. Study writes every capital on the map, with a short fact about each city.

Four regions before all fifty

A 50 states and their capitals quiz is a long round, so the sets under Start from cut it into four: the Northeast (9 capitals), the Midwest (12), the West (13) and the South (16). The map zooms to the region you pick. These are the U.S. Census Bureau regions, which is why Delaware, Maryland and Oklahoma are asked with the South. Rhode Island, Delaware and the other small states have a ring beside them, big enough for a thumb.

Misses

Every question takes one answer. A wrong answer shows the right one and counts a miss. A round is 12 questions at most and ends on a line such as 8 of 9. After misses, the main button reads Practise the 6 you missed, a round of only those.

  • Seventeen capitals are also the largest city in their state, among them Phoenix, Denver, Atlanta, Boston and Honolulu. Learn those first.
  • Expect the famous-city trap. New York's capital is Albany, California's is Sacramento, Illinois has Springfield and Florida has Tallahassee.
  • Pull the sound-alikes apart: Augusta is in Maine and Atlanta in Georgia, Columbus in Ohio and Columbia in South Carolina, and the capital called Charleston is in West Virginia.
  • In a 50 states quiz capitals are the harder half. If the map itself is shaky, do the US states quiz first.
  • A states capitals quiz in class may expect correct spelling, so finish your practice in Name it with Type it chosen.

Questions and answers

Why is Washington, D.C. missing from this 50 US capitals quiz?

Washington, D.C. is the capital of the whole country, and the District of Columbia belongs to no state. This page asks only for the 50 state capitals. Puerto Rico and the other territories are not states either, so they are left out as well.

Is there a 5th grade states and capitals quiz printable?

Yes. Print blank gives the outline map with a number on each state and a numbered answer line for each capital. Print labelled is the same sheet with the capitals filled in. For a whole class, put the page on a projector and run it as a United States and capitals quiz, one region at a time.

Can I type the answers, as in a name the state capitals quiz on paper?

Yes. Under More options, switch from Name it to Type it. One wrong or missing letter is forgiven in longer names, so Tallahasee is accepted and the correct spelling shown. St. Paul counts for Saint Paul, and OKC, Salt Lake and Jeff City are accepted too. Another capital's name is always wrong.

Is this a states and capitals map game as well as a quiz?

It can be played like one. A round is 12 questions at most, with no clock: the end card shows how many you got right. Share score makes a link that opens the same round with your result as the one to beat.

How current are the facts in this 50 state capitals quiz?

State capitals rarely change. The most recent move was in 1910, when Oklahoma's capital went from Guthrie to Oklahoma City. All 50 capitals and the fact shown with each were checked against Wikipedia's list of capitals in the United States on the date at the bottom of this page. Populations are 2020 census counts.

Is this the same map as the US states quiz?

Yes. It is the map of the US states quiz on this site, made from a public-domain U.S. Census Bureau boundary file. Alaska and Hawaii sit in inset boxes and are not to scale. Capitals are not drawn as dots, which would be too small to tap. The whole state is the target.

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