96 Fun Facts About Us States

What is the capital city of California?

Sacramento became California's permanent state capital in 1854, though it wasn't formally made the capital until 1879.

Which US state is known as the "Sunshine State"?

Despite the nickname, severe weather is routine there, and it is one of only two states, with Hawaii, that has regions with a tropical climate.

How many other US states does Kentucky border?

Kentucky borders seven states: Illinois, Indiana and Ohio to the north, West Virginia and Virginia to the east, Tennessee to the south and Missouri to the west.

The northern mockingbird is the official bird of five US states. Which of these is one of them?

The other four are Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas; South Carolina used to be a sixth before switching to the Carolina wren.

Which is the smallest US state by land area?

Rhode Island is the smallest U.S. state by land area, measuring just 1,033.6 square miles.

Which US state is the largest by total area?

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by total area, encompassing 665,384 square miles.

Which state was the first to ratify the U.S. Constitution?

Delaware was the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on December 7, 1787.

The Saguaro cactus blossom is the state flower of which desert state?

The Saguaro cactus blossom is the state flower of Arizona.

Which of the Great Lakes does not border the state of Michigan?

Michigan touches four of the five Great Lakes plus Lake St. Clair, giving it the longest freshwater coastline of any US state.

Which US state has the largest population?

California is the most populous state in the United States.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is located in which US state?

South Dakota's Black Hills hold the memorial, carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore about 2 miles southwest of Keystone.

"Ad Astra per Aspera" ("To the Stars Through Difficulties") is the state motto of which US state?

The motto was proposed by state senator John James Ingalls, who also designed the Great Seal adopted in May 1861.

Which pair of states both have the white oak as their state tree?

Connecticut's Charter Oak and Maryland's 450-year-old Wye Oak, which fell in a 2002 thunderstorm, were both famous white oaks; Illinois also claims the species.

Which state is widely known by the nickname "The Lone Star State"?

The single star on the flag recalls its years as the independent Republic of Texas.

What is the highest point in Colorado?

Mount Elbert, at 14,440 feet (4,401 meters) above sea level, is the highest peak in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains.

Yellowstone National Park is primarily located in which US state?

Wyoming holds roughly 96% of Yellowstone, a roughly square parcel of volcanic complex that jogs slightly beyond the state's northwestern corner into Montana and Idaho.

Which US state has the most electoral votes in presidential elections?

Its 54 electoral votes follow from having the largest population; from 1952 through 1988 the state went Republican in nine of ten elections.

Which state is widely known as the "Peach State"?

The nickname was earned in the three decades after the Civil War, and the peach is still the official state fruit even though the state's official crop is the peanut.

Which state is home to the Great Salt Lake?

It is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and a remnant of prehistoric Lake Bonneville, which once covered much of the state's west.

The Liberty Bell sits across the street from Independence Hall in which state?

It cracked when first rung after arriving in Philadelphia and was twice recast by local workmen John Pass and John Stow, whose surnames appear on the bell.

Which US state is nicknamed "The Last Frontier"?

Alaska is The Last Frontier; the state's own name comes from the Aleut word 'Alyeska', meaning 'great land'.

Which US state has the largest number of national parks?

California boasts the most national parks of any state, with nine, including Yosemite, Sequoia, and Death Valley.

Which continental US state borders only one other US state?

Beyond New Hampshire, its neighbours are the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec, plus a maritime border with Nova Scotia.

Crater Lake National Park surrounds a flooded volcanic caldera in which state?

Crater Lake National Park is situated in southern Oregon, preserving the stunning Crater Lake formed within a volcanic caldera.

Which US state is most widely known for its bourbon whiskey production?

It makes about 95% of the world's supply, and the barrels ageing there, more than 5.7 million, outnumber the state's people.

Which state has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States?

That figure of roughly 1,350 miles excludes its many barrier islands.

Everglades National Park is located in which US state?

Everglades National Park, a vast wetland ecosystem, is located in the southern tip of Florida.

The state motto "Live Free or Die" belongs to which US state?

"Live Free or Die" is the official state motto of New Hampshire.

The Golden Gate Bridge is located in which US state?

The Golden Gate Bridge spans the Golden Gate strait, connecting San Francisco to Marin County in California.

Which US state is an archipelago?

It consists of 137 volcanic islands, almost the entire Hawaiian chain, with Midway Atoll the lone exception.

The Grand Canyon is located in which US state?

The entirety of the Grand Canyon is located within the state of Arizona.

Which US state has the most lighthouses?

Its Great Lakes shoreline accounts for more than 150 past and present lights, more than any other state.

Which US state is known as the "Evergreen State"?

Washington's nickname was proposed in 1890 by Charles T. Conover of Seattle and remains only de facto, never formally adopted by the legislature.

The Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, lies within which two states?

The bay itself lies in Maryland and Virginia, but its drainage basin covers parts of six states plus Washington, D.C., with more than 150 rivers and streams feeding it.

Which US state has the highest average elevation?

It also has the highest low point of any state, and all 30 of the highest major summits of the Rocky Mountains lie within its borders.

The Boston Tea Party of 1773 took place in which state?

Colonists dumped the tea in 1773; Britain answered with the Intolerable Acts of 1774, aimed squarely at the colony.

Which US state is known as the "Ocean State"?

The smallest state still has about 400 miles of coastline, and bays and inlets make up roughly 14% of its area.

The Freedom Trail, a 2.5-mile path past 16 sites from the American Revolution, runs through a city in which state?

Massachusetts is home to the Freedom Trail, which winds through Boston past 16 locations significant to the history of the United States.

Which US state borders both Mexico and the Pacific Ocean?

California borders the Mexican state of Baja California; Arizona and New Mexico also touch Mexico but have no coast, and Texas faces the Gulf.

Which US state is geographically divided into two peninsulas by a large body of water?

The heavily forested Upper Peninsula juts east from northern Wisconsin, while the more populous Lower Peninsula stretches north from Ohio and Indiana.

Area 51, a highly classified United States Air Force facility, is rumored to be located in which state?

Area 51 is a commonly known nickname for a highly classified US Air Force facility located within the Nevada Test and Training Range.

In which US state was the first permanent English settlement in North America established?

Jamestown was founded in 1607, thirteen years before the Mayflower reached Plymouth.

Which US state is known as the "Badger State"?

Early lead miners who sheltered in the holes they had dug were nicknamed 'badgers', and the label stuck to the state.

The Gateway Arch, a famous national monument, is located in a city in which state?

The Gateway Arch is located in St. Louis, Missouri, symbolizing the westward expansion of the United States.

Disneyland Park, the first Disney theme park, opened in 1955 in which state?

The original Disneyland Park opened in Anaheim, California, in 1955.

The tallest mountain in the contiguous US is located in which state?

Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States, is located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California.

How many US states share a land or water border with Canada?

Thirteen states touch Canada: Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine; Ohio and Pennsylvania meet it only across Lake Erie.

Which US state has Juneau as its capital city?

Juneau is the capital city of Alaska.

Which state has the least populous state capital in the country?

Montpelier, Vermont, has only about 8,000 residents, fewer than Pierre, Augusta or Frankfort; it is also the only state capital without a McDonald's.

Which is the only state with a single-house, unicameral legislature?

Nebraska voters abolished the lower house in 1934 during the Depression; the first one-chamber session met in 1937, and its members are titled senators.

Which state has the most counties, at 254?

The second-place state is Georgia with 159. Loving County, Texas, is the least populous county in the country.

Which state is divided into parishes instead of counties?

Louisiana's 64 parishes reflect its French and Spanish Catholic colonial heritage; they function exactly like counties elsewhere.

Which state has the smallest population, despite being the tenth-largest by area?

Fewer than 600,000 people live there, less than many single cities. It was also the first state to grant women the vote, in 1869 as a territory.

Which state was created in 1863 by counties that broke away from a Confederate state?

Lincoln admitted West Virginia on June 20, 1863, making it the only state formed by separating from a Confederate state during the Civil War.

Which state became the 48th, and last of the contiguous states, on Valentine's Day 1912?

Its neighbor New Mexico had joined just five weeks earlier as the 47th. No further states were added until Alaska and Hawaii in 1959.

Which state has the only non-rectangular state flag, a swallowtail burgee?

Ohio's flag, designed by John Eisenmann, debuted at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition and was adopted in 1902; the state even prescribes an official 17-fold method for it.

Which state's flag features the British Union Jack in its corner?

King Kamehameha I flew the Union Jack as a gift from British captain George Vancouver; the eight stripes represent the main islands.

The Mall of America, the largest shopping mall in the country, is in which state?

The Mall of America sits in Bloomington, Minnesota, on the former site of Metropolitan Stadium, where the Twins and Vikings once played, and contains an indoor theme park.

The geographic center of the contiguous 48 states lies near Lebanon, in which state?

The point was calculated in 1918 by balancing a cardboard cutout of the map on a pin. A small stone monument and chapel mark the spot.

The Wright brothers made the first controlled, powered airplane flight in December 1903 on the windy Atlantic dunes of which state?

North Carolina's Kitty Hawk dunes, at what is now Kill Devil Hills, offered steady winds and soft sand landings, though the Flyer was built back home in Dayton, Ohio.

The longest known cave system in the world lies beneath which state?

Mammoth Cave has more than 426 surveyed miles of passages, over 1.5 times longer than the runner-up, an underwater cave in Mexico.

Which state has the lowest mean elevation of any state, at roughly 60 feet?

Its highest natural point, near Ebright Azimuth, is only about 448 feet above sea level. Florida has the lowest high point but a higher average.

Santa Fe, founded in 1610 as the oldest US state capital, is in which state?

Santa Fe, New Mexico, sits at about 7,200 feet, making it the highest-altitude state capital as well as the oldest; it predates Plymouth Colony by a decade.

Which state, nicknamed the "Mother of Presidents", is the birthplace of eight US presidents?

Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe were four of the first five; Ohio, with seven, is the only close rival.

Which state's 1901 constitution, with over 850 amendments, became the world's longest?

Alabama's 1901 constitution grew past 300,000 words, roughly forty times the length of the US Constitution; voters ratified a recompiled Constitution of 2022 in November 2022.

A 231 mph wind, a world record for over 60 years, was recorded on a peak in which state?

Mount Washington's observatory clocked it on April 12, 1934. It remains the fastest wind ever measured outside a tornado or tropical cyclone.

Which state grows about a third of the nation's potatoes?

Idaho grows most of its crop on the Snake River Plain across the south of the state, whose volcanic soil and cold nights suit the russet.

Which state's nickname, the "Hawkeye State", comes from a James Fenimore Cooper novel?

Hawkeye is the scout Natty Bumppo in The Last of the Mohicans. The name was adopted by early settlers and a Burlington newspaper in the 1830s.

Which state borders eight others, tying the national record?

Tennessee's eight neighbors run from Kentucky and Virginia in the north to Mississippi in the south; Missouri is the only other state touching eight.

Pierre is the capital of which state?

Locals pronounce it "peer". With about 14,000 residents it is the second-smallest state capital, and Sioux Falls is the state's biggest city.

Carson City is the capital of which state?

It is named for frontiersman Kit Carson and is an independent city belonging to no county. Las Vegas and Reno are both far larger.

Which state's nickname refers to settlers who jumped the gun on the 1889 Land Rush?

Oklahoma's Sooners crossed into the Unassigned Lands before the official noon start on April 22, 1889; the name became the official state nickname and the state university's mascot.

Helena is the capital of which state?

Helena, Montana, grew from an 1864 gold strike at Last Chance Gulch, whose crooked path is now the main street; Billings is the state's largest city.

Which is the most densely populated state in the country?

New Jersey packs about 1,260 people per square mile and is the only state where every county is classed as urban by the Census Bureau; Trenton is the capital and Newark the largest city.

Which state's nickname honors the Fundamental Orders of 1639, an early written charter?

Connecticut's Fundamental Orders of 1639 are called by some historians the first written constitution in the Western world, hence the nickname the Constitution State, made official in 1959.

Which state's name comes from an Ojibwe phrase meaning "great river"?

Mississippi takes its name from the Ojibwe misi-ziibi, 'great river'; its capital Jackson honors Andrew Jackson, and the Magnolia State nickname honors its state tree and flower.

The 1957 Little Rock Nine school-integration crisis unfolded in which state?

Arkansas governor Orval Faubus used the National Guard to keep nine Black students out of Little Rock's Central High until President Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne.

Which state was named in honor of the French-born wife of King Charles I?

Maryland honors Queen Henrietta Maria; its 1632 charter went to Lord Baltimore as a haven for English Catholics, and its capital, Annapolis, briefly served as US capital in 1783-84.

Which state's name honors the father of its Quaker founder rather than the founder himself?

Charles II granted the land to William Penn to settle a debt owed to Penn's late father, Admiral Sir William Penn, and named it "Penn's Woods" for the admiral.

Which state is nicknamed "America's Dairyland"?

Wisconsin's cheesemaking arrived with German and Swiss immigrants, and University of Wisconsin scientist Stephen Babcock devised the butterfat test that standardised milk quality.

Which state organizes its local government into boroughs rather than counties?

Much of the state lies in an Unorganized Borough with no county-level government at all. The only other county-less state uses parishes.

Which is the only state with a state-owned bank?

The Bank of North Dakota in Bismarck was founded in 1919 by the populist Nonpartisan League; the state also owns a flour mill in Grand Forks.

Which state's motto is the single word "Industry", symbolized by a beehive on its flag?

Mormon pioneers originally proposed a State of Deseret, a Book of Mormon word for honeybee. The beehive remains the state emblem.

Which state earned the nickname "Centennial State" by joining the Union in 1876?

President Grant signed the proclamation on August 1, 1876, less than a month after the nation's 100th birthday, making it the 38th state.

Which state is nicknamed for the palmetto logs that absorbed British cannon fire in 1776?

South Carolina's palmetto-log fort on Sullivan's Island held in June 1776, keeping Charleston safe until 1780, and the palmetto tree went onto the state flag and seal.

Salem, not Portland, is the capital of which state?

Portland is the largest city, but the capital moved to Salem in 1852. Salem is only the state's third-most populous city.

Which state is nicknamed the "Empire State"?

New York's nickname reflects its economic and political dominance in the 19th century; its capital is Albany, not New York City, its largest city.

Which state's official slogan is "Land of Lincoln"?

Illinois adopted the slogan in 1955; Lincoln was born in Kentucky but practiced law in Springfield, which he helped make the Illinois capital as a legislator in 1837.

Which state's highest point is Hoosier Hill, a mere 1,257 feet above sea level?

The modest summit sits in a farm field in Wayne County near the Ohio line. The state's Indiana Dunes, by contrast, rise nearly 200 feet above Lake Michigan.

Lansing is the capital of which state?

It was chosen in 1847 partly to move the seat of government away from the vulnerable border city of Detroit, which remains the largest city.

Lubec, the easternmost organized settlement in the US, is in which state?

The state is the easternmost in the contiguous US by both its extreme points and its geographic center; its capital moved from Portland to Augusta in 1832.

Roger Williams founded which state's capital in 1636 on land bought from local tribes?

Providence was the first settlement in North America with an explicitly secular government, after Williams was banished from Massachusetts Bay.

Jefferson City is the capital of which state?

The capital moved there in 1826, sited on the Missouri River between the two big cities. Both Kansas City and St. Louis dwarf it.

Which state was the first in the US to legalize same-sex marriage, in 2004?

The Goodridge ruling by the state's Supreme Judicial Court took effect on May 17, 2004, more than a decade before the nationwide Obergefell decision.

Badwater Basin, the lowest and hottest place in North America, is in which state?

The Death Valley basin sits about 280 feet below sea level, yet Mount Whitney, the highest summit in the contiguous US, is under 90 miles away.

Tallahassee is the capital of which state?

It was picked in 1824 as a midpoint between the two main towns of the day, St. Augustine and Pensacola. Jacksonville is now the largest city.