What Is the Capital of Your State? Civics Question 62

Your answer is the capital city of the state where you live now.

Question 62 asks for the capital of your state. Answers vary by applicant. Residents of the District of Columbia answer that D.C. is not a state and does not have a capital. Residents of a U.S. territory name the capital of their territory.

The Capital Is Often Not the Biggest City

Many applicants answer with the largest city in their state, and in most states that city is not the capital.

• New York’s capital is Albany, not New York City.
• California’s is Sacramento, not Los Angeles.
• Illinois’s is Springfield, not Chicago.
• Texas’s is Austin, not Houston.
• Florida’s is Tallahassee, not Miami.

The capital is where the state government sits. It is where the governor works and where the state legislature meets, and it was often chosen for its position on the map rather than its population.

How to Find Your State Capital

Search for your state name plus the word capital, or open your state government website, which ends in .gov. The capital city appears in the address of the state offices.

Unlike your governor, this answer almost never changes, so one lookup is usually enough for your whole case.

The District of Columbia and the Territories

Residents of the District of Columbia answer that D.C. is not a state and has no capital. Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States, but it is not a state capital, and that distinction is what the answer turns on.

Residents of a U.S. territory name their territory’s capital, the city where the territorial government sits.

How to Remember Your State Capital

Tie the city to the person. Your governor works in your capital, so learn question 61 and question 62 as one pair from one website visit.

If the city name is unfamiliar, connect it to something you already know: a highway you have driven, a road sign you pass, or the return address on mail from a state office. A capital you have seen written down is easier to recall than one you only read once.

What to Say on Test Day

Say the city name and nothing else. “Sacramento,” not “Sacramento, California.”

If you live in D.C., say “D.C. is not a state and has no capital,” then stop. If you live in a territory, name your territory’s capital city.