USA States

There are 50 USA states, including Alaska near the arctic and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Originally there were 13 states located on the East Coast, which were ruled by England until 1776. Today, each state establishes laws, but they are ruled by the Federal Government. Most curriculums will require students to learn how to spell each state correctly as well as know its abbreviation.

United States Worksheets

Our elementary school introduces the fifty states in fifth grade. Each student must be able to identify the location of each state. We created the two worksheets above to offer assistance. After a child knows the location of each state, they are then expected to be able to spell each state correctly. Our fifth grade spelling program divided the 50 states into 3 sections. We created the following worksheets to help your child learn how to spell the fifty states correctly.

USA States and Capitals

We listed the 50 USA states and capitals below as well as an abbreviation, meaning of the state name and date of entry into the union.

State	Abbr	Capital	Date of Entry	Meaning of State Name
Alabama	AL	Montgomery	1819	Choctaw - thicket clearers
Alaska	AK	Juneau	1959	Inuit - great land
Arizona	AZ	Phoenix	1912	Papago - place of small spring
Arkansas	AR	Little Rock	1836	Quapaw - south wind
California	CA	Sacramento	1850	Spanish - earthly paradise
Colorado	CO	Denver	1876	Spanish - red (color of the earth)
Connecticut	CT	Hartford	1788	Mohican - at the long tidal river
Delaware	DE	Dover	1787	Named for Lord De La Warr, an English governor
Florida	FL	Tallahassee	1845	Spanish - feast of flowers
Georgia	GA	Atlanta	1788	Named for George II of England
Hawaii	HI	Honolulu	1959	Hawaiian - homeland
Idaho	ID	Boise	1890	Shoshone - light on the mountain
Illinois	IL	Springfield	1818	Algonquin - warriors
Indiana	IN	Indianapolis	1816	English - land of the Indians
Iowa	IA	Des Moines	1846	Dakota - the sleepy one
Kansas	KS	Topeka	1861	Sioux - land of the south wind people
Kentucky	KY	Frankfort	1792	Iroquois - meadow land
Louisiana	LA	Baton Rouge	1812	Named for Louis XIV of France
Maine	ME	Augusta	1820	Named after a French province
Maryland	MD	Annapolis	1788	Named for Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I of England
Massachusetts	MA	Boston	1788	Algonquin - place of the big hill
Michigan	MI	Lansing	1837	Chippewa - big water
Minnesota	MN	St. Paul	1858	Dakota Sioux - sky-colored water
Mississippi	MS	Jackson	1817	Chippewa - big river
Missouri	MO	Jefferson City	1821	Algonquin - river of the big canoes
Montana	MT	Helena	1889	Spanish - mountains
Nebraska	NE	Lincoln	1867	Omaha - river in the flatness
Nevada	NV	Carson City	1864	Spanish - snowy
New Hampshire	NH	Concord	1788	Named after an English county
New Jersey	NJ	Trenton	1787	Named after Isle of Jersey in England
New Mexico	NM	Santa Fe	1912	Named after Mexico (Aztec war god, Mextli)
New York	NY	Albany	1788	Named for the Duke of York and Albany
North Carolina	NC	Raleigh	1789	Named for Charles I and Charles II of England
North Dakota	ND	Bismarck	1889	Sioux - friend
Ohio	OH	Columbus	1803	Iroquois - fine or good river
Oklahoma	OK	Oklahoma City	1907	Choctaw - red people
Oregon	OR	Salem	1859	Spanish - land of wild sage
Pennsylvania	PA	Harrisburg	1787	Named for William Penn and Latin woodland
Rhode Island	RI	Providence	1790	Dutch - red clay
South Carolina	SC	Columbia	1788	Named for Charles I and Charles II of England
South Dakota	SD	Pierre	1889	Sioux - friend
Tennessee	TN	Nashville	1796	Cherokee settlement name, Tanasi
Texas	TX	Austin	1845	Spanish - allies
Utah	UT	Salt Lake City	1896	Ute - people of the mountains
Vermont	VT	Montpelier	1791	French - green mountain
Virginia	VA	Richmond	1788	Named for Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen Of England
Washington	WA	Olympia	1889	Named for George Washington
West Virginia	WV	Charlestown	1863	Resulted from Virginia's western counties refusing to seceded from US in 1863
Wisconsin	WI	Madison	1848	Chippewa - grassy place
Wyoming	WY	Cheyenne	1890	Algonquin - place of the big flats

Source: Fry, E.B., Ph.D. & Kress, J.E., Ed.D. (2006). The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists 5th Edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

Merriam-Webster Children’s Dictionary (2008)