# How to remember the 50 states - groups of five **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 9, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-remember-the-50-states-groups-of-five/690374 "2014-06-09T01:05:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-remember-the-50-states-groups-of-five/690374/1 "2014-06-09T01:05:17Z")
I would have trouble memorizing alphabetically, but visualizing a map is much easier. My OCD seems to have latched onto the concept that the states can be grouped by fives, **what do you think?** Round 1. Perfect fit… Pacific: Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California. South-West: Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado. Gulf Coast: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida. Round 2. Good fit… South-East: Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia. Mid-Atlantic: Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut\*. New England: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island. Round 3. Reasonable… Great Lakes: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota. North-West: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota. Round 4. The Rest… North Mississippi/Missouri: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas. South Mississippi/Missouri: Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma. - I realize that Connecticut is part of New England, but there are six New England states and I am doing groups of five. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-remember-the-50-states-groups-of-five/690374/2 "2014-06-09T01:28:22Z")
Well, I remember them in alphabetical order. There was this stupid song from junior high. It actually has come in useful sometimes though. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-remember-the-50-states-groups-of-five/690374/3 "2014-06-09T01:33:03Z")
I visualize a map…but I do it in north-south “bands” of states. Alaska/Hawaii. Washington/Oregon/California. Idaho/Nevada/Utah/Arizona. (This is one of the places it gets messy.) etc. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-remember-the-50-states-groups-of-five/690374/4 "2014-06-09T01:34:50Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Well, I remember them in alphabetical order. There was this stupid song from junior high. It actually has come in useful sometimes though. Let’s salute them now! ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-remember-the-50-states-groups-of-five/690374/5 "2014-06-09T02:17:13Z")
Interesting conception. Groups of 5 do work surprisingly well. I think you’re stretching a little to far for some of them, however. In some cases, that would be fixed by changing the names of the groups away from those that already have a pre-defined meaning. You can’t have a group called “New England” without Connecticut, but you can if you call it “North-Northeast” or something. That might seem like semantic nit-picking but for a memory trick to work, it has to work. In other cases, a few states just seem regionally/culturally out of place. I took a stab at adjusting your groups of 5, and found that my groups were substantially identical, but most groups had different names. North-Northeast: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachussetts, Rhode Island NYC-DC Coast: Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland Rust Belt: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois Eastern South: West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia Gulf Coast: Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas Inner South: Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma Upper Midlands: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska Northern Cowboy-Land: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota The Five Corners: Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada Pacific Rim: California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii What do you think? FWIW, my own “remember all the states” mnemonic is “start at Maine, go clockwise around the perimeter, and then fill in the middle.” ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-remember-the-50-states-groups-of-five/690374/6 "2014-06-09T02:32:53Z")
[This little tune is catchy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNUDDaEOvuY) and also includes the capitals! ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-remember-the-50-states-groups-of-five/690374/7 "2014-06-09T03:06:51Z")
Just curious: Why do you have to memorize the 50 states? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-remember-the-50-states-groups-of-five/690374/8 "2014-06-09T03:17:48Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Let’s salute them now! Rather nifty, huh?🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-remember-the-50-states-groups-of-five/690374/9 "2014-06-09T03:18:26Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I visualize a map…but I do it in north-south “bands” of states. > > Alaska/Hawaii. > > Washington/Oregon/California. > > Idaho/Nevada/Utah/Arizona. (This is one of the places it gets messy.) > > etc. I do something like that. I divide the country into columns that are ideally one state wide but in some places two or three. Then starting in the northeast, I go down the first column, up the second, down the third, etc. When a column is more than one state wide, I remember them from east to west. I’ve been doing it this way since the fifth grade, probably because I had memorized the 13 original states north-to-south a year or two before and this seemed like a logical continuation of that scheme. ME-NH-VT MA RI-CT NY NJ-PA DE-MD VA-WV NC SC GA FL AL-MS TN KY OH-IN-IL MI-WI MN IA MO AR LA TX OK KS NE SD ND MT WY CO NM AZ UT-NV ID WA OR CA HI AK ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-remember-the-50-states-groups-of-five/690374/10 "2014-06-09T03:21:49Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Just curious: Why do you have to memorize the 50 states? I did it because my fifth-grade teacher promised us a shiny silver dollar and extra credit if we could name the 50 states and their capitals. We had a few weeks to prepare, I seem to recall. Only one of my classmates met the challenge. I missed because I left off “City” from “Oklahoma City.” ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-remember-the-50-states-groups-of-five/690374/11 "2014-06-09T03:25:05Z")
I can still do this. You’ll have to take me at my word that I’m not looking this up! Allabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Conneticut Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana. Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Lousiana, Maine Maryland Massachusetts, Michigan. Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada. New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennesses, Texas Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-remember-the-50-states-groups-of-five/690374/12 "2014-06-09T03:28:45Z")
In fourth grade we learned about the states in four groups and I’ve always remembered them by picturing the map Northeast – ME NH VT MA RI CT NY PA NJ South – MD DE WV VA NC SC GA FL KY TN AL MS LA AR TX OK Midwest – OH IN MI IL WI MN IA MO ND SD NE KS West – MT WY ID CO UT NV AZ NM WA OR CA AK HI ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-remember-the-50-states-groups-of-five/690374/13 "2014-06-09T04:50:36Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I can still do this. You’ll have to take me at my word that I’m not looking this up! > > Allabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Conneticut > Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana. > Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Lousiana, Maine > Maryland Massachusetts, Michigan. > Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada. > New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio > Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennesses, Texas > Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming! I’m singing along with you. that is a nifty song!