The U.S. State Everyone Forgets When Listing All 50
Updated: Feb. 14, 2023
Nope, it's not North or South Dakota.
Unless you still have the Fifty Nifty United States song from elementary school memorized, you probably can’t name all 50 states in less than five minutes. If you’ve ever actually tried to list all the states from memory, you know how hard it is. You’ll most likely fly through about 40 of them and then start to struggle. And if you don’t, then test your knowledge even more with the 24 state trivia facts everyone gets wrong.
Even if you drew out the entire U.S. map, accounting for all of the tiny states in New England and remembering to sketch out both Dakotas and Kansas, there’s still one that inevitably holds the total count at 49. Here, find out which U.S. state borders the most states.
Nope, it’s not Hawaii or Alaska. That state is Missouri.
The results from Sporcle’s “US States Quiz” make it clear that Missouri is the most forgotten state. The quiz has been attempted by players more than 19 million times, and Missouri is the state the lowest percent of people guess correctly. Only 77.6 percent of players manage to remember it, compared to the 97.3 percent who list California or Texas. The four most-forgotten states behind Missouri are Connecticut, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Nebraska. If you’re one of the few who remembered Missouri, try guessing the only letter that’s not in any U.S. state name.
The fact that so many people forget Missouri isn’t that surprising, though. Eight U.S. states start with the letter M—you’re bound to forget one of them. Being able to list Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Montana on your own already signals a pretty good memory.
Put yourself to the test. Do you think you can name all 50? If you’re forgetting a lot of states, don’t worry. These 50 facts about the 50 states should help you remember them all. If that doesn’t work, memorizing the lyrics to that catchy Fifty Nifty United States song should definitely do the trick. Good luck!
Originally Published: February 27, 2020
