The 50 state capitals

Why most capitals are not the biggest city

New York’s capital is Albany, not New York City. Illinois governs itself from Springfield, not Chicago, and California from Sacramento, not Los Angeles. In 33 of the 50 states the capital is not the largest city, and the reasons repeat from state to state.

A central location. When most capitals were chosen, the legislators had to travel to them on horseback or by boat, so a site in the middle of the state was fairer to everyone. Mississippi sent commissioners to find a spot on a navigable river near the center of the state, and they chose the site of Jackson. South Carolina moved its government from coastal Charleston and laid out Columbia from scratch near the geographic center, to answer complaints from the upcountry. Indianapolis, Jefferson City and Raleigh were all picked the same way, sometimes before there was a town on the spot at all.

Following the settlers. Capitals moved as the population did. Alabama left Tuscaloosa for Montgomery in 1846 as settlement shifted east. Iowa moved its government west from Iowa City to Des Moines, and Pennsylvania left Philadelphia for Lancaster and then Harrisburg as people moved inland.

Land, buildings and deals. Towns competed for the capital because it brought jobs and prestige, and the best offer often won. Frankfort became Kentucky’s capital mostly because of a large pledge from a local landowner. Carson City’s founder set aside a plaza for a future capitol before Nevada was even a territory. Sacramento won California’s capital in 1854 by offering the Legislature its county courthouse.

Voters. Several states let the public decide. Kansans chose Topeka over Lawrence in an 1861 election, South Dakota voters picked Pierre in 1890 and confirmed it in 1904, and Oklahomans moved the capital from Guthrie to Oklahoma City in a statewide vote in 1910.

Capitals that would not stay put

Many states took years to settle on one city. New York’s legislature moved among Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Albany and New York City for two decades before Albany became permanent in 1797. Vermont’s General Assembly met in a rotating list of towns until Montpelier was chosen, and it once even met in Charlestown, now in New Hampshire. Connecticut had two capitals, with sessions split between Hartford and New Haven, until 1875. In Rhode Island the General Assembly moved its sessions among five county seats, and Providence did not become the only capital until 1901.

Extremes

The smallest capital is Montpelier, Vermont, with about 7,800 residents. Pierre, Augusta, Frankfort and Juneau are next. The largest is Phoenix, with about 1.67 million people; Austin passed one million in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimates. The oldest is Santa Fe, founded as the seat of Spanish New Mexico around 1610. And Juneau is the hardest to reach: no road connects it to the rest of North America, so everyone arrives by plane or ferry.

Learn them

The quickest way to learn the capitals is to group them by region and practice the ones that do not match the biggest city. Our state capitals quiz lets you click them on a map or type them in, and the printable capitals worksheet comes with an answer key.