Is it in Kentucky, I know that there is a Springfield and a Shelbyville in Kentucky. I would tend to believe that its in Mass., though due to Mayor Quimby’s accent.
Springfield isn’t in any state. There are so many conflicting data points that it’s clear that the writers don’t want to limit themselves.
It’s a running joke on the show that you don’t know what state they are in, since almost every state has a Springfield. There are several episodes that use this joke, one that I recall has Homer standing next to a U.S. map, he says ‘Here we are in Springfield’ and when he points at the map he moves in front of it so you can’t see where he is pointing.
The official “Where is Springfield?” from snpp.com, the simpsons archive: http://www.snpp.com/guides/springfield.list.html
According to the Virtual Springfield video game, Homer’s driver’s license was issued by the state of North Takoma.
It is located in North Takoma (seriously)
http://www.snpp.com/guides/lisa-2.html#Q2
Actually, in one episode (I can’t remember which) Homer’s driver’s license is shown with the location being shown as Springfield, NT. Once we find out where NT is at we know where Springfield is at.
There is an episode where the simpson family are made out to be a REAL family and the “Simpsons” TV show is just something they star in.
At the end of it they are refered to a family from Kentucky.
May or may not be meaningful.
I think there is a Shelbyville in Illinois as well as a Springfield. You’ll notice that the Simpson’s Springfield has everything: the ocean, mountains, and I think even a desert, a beautiful forest for sure, a very large garbage dump, whatever they need it is there. I think there was a massive Springfield Airport too. The MAMA’S FAMILY sit com was in “the tristate area,” which might place it. THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, usually called MAYBERRY informally, is in North Carolina somewhere around Mount Pilate
We did this to death a long time ago in this thread (102 replies!), and a few other threads with just a few replies. There have been quite a few new Simpsons episodes since then, but I doubt any of them will give us anything but more misleading clues.
I thought that they picked the name Springfield because it is the most common town name in America. Which would make sense since they are meant to represent every average American.
On the map of “Krusty Burgers” that Homer uses to save the day in one episode they were clearly in the north east which would make it a New England town. But the radio stations begin with “K”. It seems there is a strong New England slant to the show though. I don’t know but are a lot of the writers from New England (I know Conan O’Brien is)?
Yeah, except that I just saw that episode in syndication and at the end they were refered to as a family from Missouri.
I’m sure in subsequent runnings of the episode they’ll be from Illinois, Ohio, Oregon, you name it.
Well, that answers it. The Simpsons live in an alternate reality where northern Canada has been annexed into the U.S. They live in Springfield, Northwest Territories, Canada, U.S.A.
[sub]OK, I’ll crawl back into my hole now[/sub]
Zev Steinhardt
I think the accent’s mostly to support his role as a ruthless Kennedy satire.
Not even Bostonians sound like Mayor Quimby - only Kennedys. In Springfield and elsewhere in western Massachusetts, the dominant accent is closer to “General American” (i.e. they DO pronounce their final R’s).
The conventional wisdom that Matt Groening picked Springfield as the Simpsons’ home town because there’s on in every state isn’t quite true. According to the ever-trustworthy Magliozzi Brothers, there are only 46 Springfields in the US, compared to the most-common name, Midway, at 180.
I recall hearing that Springfield was picked as a kind of ironic tribute to Father Knows Best.
I remember wandering into the alt.tv.simpsons website years ago, and the two most prominent threads were “where is springfield?” and “worst episode ever!” The writers eventually began to incorporate this stuff into the show. One of my favorites was Bart and Milhous coming upon some information that would be embarrasing to someone and discussing how it should be disseminated:
Bart: We’ve got to get this out where people can see it!
Milhous: Let’s post it on the internet!
Bart: No, we want to get it to people whose opinions matter.
The comic-book guy has become the designated representative of the usenet crowd, often delivering their complaints verbatim, while waiting for his microwave burrito to heat.
In the episode where Spingfield was divided into two battling area codes, one of the area codes was 939 and the other was, I think, 636. The first code is pending for an overlay over Puerto Rico, and the other, if it was 636, is in Missouri. (Ref: area code lists at http://www.areacode-info.com/ )
So obviously, Springfield sits astride one of Puerto Rico’s land borders with Missouri, while at the same time existing in the Western Arctic (probable new name for the Northwest Territories).
North Takoma must be quite a state of mind…
Really, the only area of the US that fits the criteria for Springfield location is the pacific northwest. It’s a seaport on salt water, is not far from deserts, has snow-capped mountains in the background, and gets snowed on in the winter. I always figured Bellingham, Washington, fits the bill
The capital of the state that the Simpsons live in is Capital City. Looking up in my almanac shows that to be the capital of North Takoma.
So there!
There was the episode where Homer coaches the boy’s football team. During one game, it shows Hank Hill (from “King of the Hill”) and his family; Hank says with disgust “We drove xxxthousand miles for this?”. I forget the mileage given, but if I remember correctly, one of the episodes of King of the Hill mentions that Arlen is just outside one of the major cities in Texas (I also forget which city). If someone in the group remembers the city and mileage given, a quick measurment on a map with a piece of string extended from the Texas city should limit the possible states to an easily managed number. We also know it’s not in Hawaii or Alaska, because in 1 episode, the Simpsons wins airline tickets to anywhere in the U.S. except those states.
Garland, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, is supposedly the model for Arlen. Considering that the Hill’s 1970s era ranch is on a lot with an alley, I’ve narrowed Arlen down to the two metro areas in Texas where alleys are still common in newer low-density suburban development – Amarillo and Dallas/Fort Worth. Considering the landscape of Arlen, it’s probably close to Dallas.