US Map / US Map with Capitals

US Map with State Capitals

Every state capital marked on the map. Hover a marker for the capital's name, or hover a state for its details.

All 50 state capitals

Capitals that surprise people

In 33 of the 50 states, the capital is not the largest city. New York's capital is Albany, not New York City; California's is Sacramento, not Los Angeles; Illinois chose Springfield over Chicago. Many capitals were picked in the 1800s for central locations or river access rather than size — which is why quiz-takers who guess "the biggest city" get tripped up. Test yourself with the capitals quiz.

The smallest state capital by population is Montpelier, Vermont, with fewer than 10,000 residents. The largest is Phoenix, Arizona, which is one of the 17 capitals that is also the biggest city in its state — and the only capital in the country that is among the five largest cities in the United States.

How states chose where to put the capital

Three patterns cover almost all 50. The colonial capitals — Boston, Annapolis, Providence, Santa Fe — were already seats of government before statehood and simply stayed. The compromise capitals were placed near the geographic center of a new state so that no corner of it was more than a day or two from the statehouse: Jefferson City, Columbia, Montgomery, Frankfort, Pierre and Bismarck all sit there for that reason, and Indianapolis was laid out on empty ground in 1821 specifically to be central. The third group followed water and rail — Sacramento at the head of navigation on the Sacramento River, Little Rock at a crossing of the Arkansas, Albany at the top of the Hudson.

Capitals that moved

A capital is a legislative decision, not a permanent fact, and many states changed their minds. New York governed from New York City before settling on Albany in 1797; South Carolina moved inland from Charleston to Columbia in 1786 for the same reason most states moved inland, to reach the backcountry; Alabama used three towns before Montgomery. The pattern only stopped when railroads made travel time a smaller consideration than the cost of building a new statehouse.

Related maps

See where the biggest cities actually are on the US map with cities, open any state from the states index for a closer look at its capital region, or test yourself with the capitals quiz.