US State Capitals Quiz — 7 Free Questions

Question 1

Named in honor of the explorer credited with reaching the Americas in 1492, this city was founded specifically to serve as its state's new, more centrally located capital. What is the capital of Ohio?

Question 2

Chosen as a compromise location roughly halfway between two larger, rival cities on the state's east and west coasts, this city's name comes from a Muscogee word meaning 'old fields.' What is the capital of Florida?

Question 3

Its name literally combines its state's own name with the Greek word for city, and it hosts one of the most famous motor races in the world each Memorial Day weekend. What is the capital of Indiana?

Question 4

Home to one of the oldest continuously published newspapers in the country, this city is also known historically as the center of the American insurance industry. What is the capital of Connecticut?

Question 5

Uniquely among U.S. state capitals, this city cannot be reached by road from the rest of the state or country, accessible only by air or sea due to the surrounding mountains and glaciers. What is the capital of Alaska?

Question 6

Serving as the capital of the Confederacy for most of the Civil War, this city was heavily damaged by fires set during its own evacuation in 1865. What is the capital of Virginia?

Question 7

This city became its state's capital in the mid-19th century partly because rival cities could not agree on a more prominent location, leading lawmakers to a compromise site that was then still largely wilderness. What is the capital of Michigan?

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About US State Capitals

State capitals follow almost exactly the same "not the biggest city" pattern that national capitals do, and it trips people up constantly. New York's capital is Albany, not New York City; California's is Sacramento, not Los Angeles or San Francisco; Illinois's is Springfield, not Chicago; Michigan's is Lansing, not Detroit. In each case, the state's most famous, most populous city isn't actually where its government sits.

That pattern isn't a coincidence. Many state capitals were deliberately chosen during the 1800s to sit in a more central, geographically accessible location within the state, rather than concentrating even more political power inside an already-dominant commercial city. It was as much a political compromise as a practical decision, especially in states with fierce, long-running rivalries between their largest cities.

Arizona's capital, Phoenix, is actually a rare exception to the usual pattern, since it's also comfortably the largest city in the entire state, one of only a small handful of US state capitals that can make that claim. At the other end of the scale, Montpelier, Vermont holds the distinction of being the least populous state capital in the country, with a population small enough that it wouldn't even rank as a large town in most other states.

A handful of state capitals have moved more than once too, as territories became states and populations gradually shifted westward throughout the nineteenth century. Georgia's capital, for instance, moved through several different cities before finally settling on Atlanta, largely tracking the growth of the state's rail network at the time.

Many state capitol buildings deliberately echo the design of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., complete with a central dome, an architectural choice that became something of an unofficial tradition throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as new states built their own seats of government.

Taken together, the list of US state capitals ends up functioning as a map of nineteenth-century political history nearly as much as it is a simple geography fact sheet, and knowing the less obvious answer is usually far more satisfying than guessing the state's biggest, most famous city and getting it wrong.

Sacramento's rise to become California's capital ties directly to the Gold Rush era, when the city's location along major transportation routes made it a natural hub even as San Francisco grew into the state's larger commercial and cultural center. Similarly, Austin was chosen as the capital of the Republic of Texas in the 1830s specifically for its central, defensible location, well before Houston or Dallas had grown into the major cities they are today.

Some states settled the question of their capital only after direct, sometimes fierce competition between rival cities. Oklahoma's capital moved from Guthrie to Oklahoma City in 1910 following a statewide vote, in a contest that involved genuine political maneuvering between competing cities each eager to become the seat of the new state's government.