9 questions · Maine to Pennsylvania · score tracked
Northeast states map quiz
The nine Census Northeast states are asked one at a time; click each on the map. This is the hardest region on the US map because six of the nine are among the ten smallest states.
How the quiz works
The quiz asks only the nine states the Census Bureau puts in the Northeast: the six New England states (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut) and the three Middle Atlantic states (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania). The map opens zoomed to the whole country, so zoom in on the top-right corner with the mouse wheel or pinch before you start — Rhode Island is 1,545 square miles and easy to miss at national scale. A wrong click counts a miss; three misses reveal the answer. Delaware and Maryland are not included because the Census counts them as South; they appear in the South quiz.
Study list: the 9 states
| State | Code | Capital | Census division |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | CT | Hartford | New England |
| Maine | ME | Augusta | New England |
| Massachusetts | MA | Boston | New England |
| New Hampshire | NH | Concord | New England |
| New Jersey | NJ | Trenton | Middle Atlantic |
| New York | NY | Albany | Middle Atlantic |
| Pennsylvania | PA | Harrisburg | Middle Atlantic |
| Rhode Island | RI | Providence | New England |
| Vermont | VT | Montpelier | New England |
Tips for telling them apart
- Vermont and New Hampshire. Both are tall wedges sharing a border. Vermont is on the west and is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, like a V. New Hampshire is on the east, wide at the bottom, and has the short 18-mile Atlantic coast.
- Maine is the big one in the corner, bordered only by New Hampshire — the only state that touches exactly one other state.
- Massachusetts is the state with the hook (Cape Cod) sticking out into the Atlantic. Rhode Island is tucked under its south-east corner; Connecticut is the rectangle under its south-west corner, with a notch in the top edge.
- New York is the largest of the nine and looks like an arrow pointing west toward Lake Erie, with Long Island trailing east.
- Pennsylvania is the near-rectangle under New York with a straight southern edge (the Mason–Dixon line). New Jersey is the small state on its east side, hanging down the coast like a tooth.
- Order the coast from north to south: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey. Learn that sequence and five of the nine are done.
Related pages
- Northeast states map — the region with populations and capitals.
- New England and Middle Atlantic division maps.
- Blank US map to practise on paper, with the labeled map as the key.