Pick a state.
All fifty in scope.
Capital, abbreviation, region, population, year admitted to the Union — every fact you'd want for a quiz, a research assignment, or a road-trip plan.
Filters & count
About this generator
Fifty states, no surprises in the dataset — Washington DC and the territories aren't in the pool because the goal here is the clean license-plate-map version of the United States. If you want DC or Puerto Rico, the country generator handles US territories under their own listings.
The pick is done with crypto.getRandomValues and rejection sampling, so every state in your filtered set has an exactly equal chance. Multi-pick batches (up to ten) draw without replacement using Fisher-Yates — you'll never get Iowa twice in the same round, which matters when you're handing out research assignments or running a trivia bracket.
Region filtering uses the US Census Bureau's four-region split: Northeast, Midwest, South, West. It's the official version, which means Texas is South (not West) and Maryland is South (not Northeast). The other common split — five regions with "Mid-Atlantic" carved out — is widely used but has no agreed-on definition, so we stick with the Census standard. Admission era buckets are: original thirteen (1787–1790), 19th-century additions, and 20th-century additions (Oklahoma 1907, New Mexico and Arizona 1912, Alaska and Hawaii 1959). That's enough resolution for most history-class uses without over-fragmenting a list of 50.
Population numbers come from the most recent US Census Bureau estimates, rounded to the nearest hundred thousand for readability. Figures are approximate and updated periodically — they shift slightly each year as new estimates publish. Plenty accurate for trivia, classroom use, and any "how big is this state" gut-check; not the right source for a published research paper. If you want to step up to the world stage or down to specific cities, both are one click away.
What people use it for
Mostly classrooms and bar trivia. The "I'll move there" use is more common than you'd think.
Classroom geography
Teachers assign each student a random state to research, present a poster on, or build a slide deck about. The region filter keeps a unit on the South tightly scoped without manual draft.
Trivia rounds
Pick five states with the population filter set to "over 10M" — instant easy round. Set it to "under 2M" for the genuinely brutal questions: name Wyoming's capital, fast.
Road trip planning
Filter to a region, generate three or four states, plot a route through them. Constraints make better trips than open-ended "where to next" decisions.
State quarter collecting
The 50-state quarter program ran 1999–2008 in admission order. Pick a random state, hunt the matching quarter — turns a passive collection into an active treasure hunt.
"I'll move there" games
Generate a state, look up cost of living, reasons to move, reasons not to. A surprisingly common end-of-Friday office activity, and a useful filter for actual relocation research.
Writing and worldbuilding
Set a story in a state you've never been to, force yourself to do the research. Random selection beats default-Brooklyn or default-California settings every time.
How it works
The picking
The pool starts as all 50 states, gets filtered by your region, population, and era selections, then sampled using crypto.getRandomValues with rejection sampling. The naïve random % N trick is biased when N doesn't divide evenly into 2³² — we discard out-of-range draws and re-roll, so every remaining state is exactly 1/N probable. Multi-pick batches use Fisher-Yates without replacement.
The data
All 50 states ship inline with the page — no API, no network round-trip. Population uses the latest US Census Bureau estimates rounded to the nearest hundred thousand. Admission years and capitals are from the National Archives and state government sources. The whole dataset is under 5 KB.
State & sharing
Filter selections live in the URL query string and mirror to localStorage. A link like /us-state/?region=South&era=og13 recreates that filter for whoever opens it. Recent picks are kept locally for the last ten generations.
Common questions
Does this include DC, Puerto Rico, or US territories?
No — only the 50 states. Washington DC and the territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, US Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands) are excluded so the pool is exactly the 50 you'd see on a license plate map. If you want territories, the country generator lists them under the United States.
What region groupings does it use?
The four-region split from the US Census Bureau: Northeast, Midwest, South, and West. Texas counts as South, not West, in this scheme — that's the official Census definition. Maryland and Delaware are South for the same reason.
What does the admission era filter do?
It groups states by when they joined the Union: original 13 (ratified 1787–1790), 19th century additions (Vermont through Utah), and 20th century (Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, Hawaii). Useful for history units or any timeline-flavored quiz.
Can I get more than one state at a time?
Yes. Set count up to 10. Picks are without replacement, so you'll never get the same state twice in a single batch — perfect for assigning students different states to research, or building a multi-question trivia round.
Are population numbers current?
Population figures use recent US Census Bureau estimates, rounded to the nearest hundred thousand for readability. Numbers move slightly each year as new estimates publish — these are accurate for any normal trivia or filter use, not for a published research paper.
How is the state picked? Is it actually random?
We use the browser's crypto.getRandomValues with rejection sampling — the same source banks and password managers use. Every state in your filtered set has an exactly equal probability. No bias toward shorter names or earlier admission dates.
Can I share or embed a specific filter setup?
Yes. Filter selections live in the URL, so a link like /us-state/?region=South recreates that filter for whoever opens it. The embed at the bottom uses the same query string, so a regional embed is just a different src attribute.
Related generators
Same neighborhood — different question.