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First U.S. States to Reach 1 Million People

Name the states of the United States that were the earliest to reach a population of 1 million.
Dates are estimates based on decennial censuses
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: January 11, 2020
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First submittedSeptember 6, 2017
Times taken53,841
Average score63.6%
Rating4.45
1:30
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Year
State
1811
New York
1818
Pennsylvania
1826
Virginia
1832
Ohio
1850
Tennessee
1851
Indiana
Year
State
1851
Massachusetts
1852
Illinois
1852
Kentucky
1857
Georgia
1857
Missouri
+5
Level 77
Sep 6, 2017
Plenty of time to type through a lot of them states. Guessing widly and had over 2 minutes left, maybe remove a minute?
+3
Level 76
Sep 7, 2017
Yes, with the 4 minutes allowed here you can just name every state and fluke the answers.
+17
Level ∞
Sep 7, 2017
Whoops. Thanks for the heads up. Changed to 90 seconds, which is our standard time for a top 10 quiz.
+7
Level 79
Oct 17, 2017
you need more time if you misread the title as cities rather than states, and your first guess is New York...d'oh!
+2
Level 36
Mar 4, 2018
Besides, there are only ten cities with a population above 1 million today.
+2
Level 24
Nov 24, 2020
@Quizmaster but this is an 11 answer quiz
+1
Level 59
Mar 6, 2023
https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/1744710/first-us-states-to-reach-2-million-people, if you want a similar challenge. This one has the right time.
+1
Level 45
Sep 7, 2017
i only guessed new york and pennsylvania.Cool quiz!
+3
Level 62
Aug 29, 2019
I guessed norf carolina 3x
+2
Level 79
Nov 24, 2020
North*? 😂
+1
Level 90
Sep 7, 2017
Really neat quiz but way too much time. I got the first 8 in about 30 seconds. After that I just started in the northeast and worked down and left until I got the last two and still had 2 minutes left. I am very surprised that Michigan wasn't on the list and somewhat surprised about New Jersey.
+7
Level 32
Sep 7, 2017
description says tha
+3
Level 83
Jan 27, 2018
I think a chronological quiz of this subject with ALL states over 1 million would make a great quiz.
+1
Level 67
Mar 6, 2023
Poor Vermont.
+1
Level 67
Mar 12, 2023
...and Wyoming and Alaska.
+3
Level 71
Mar 3, 2018
Good quiz but for non-usa jetpunkers not enough time.
+1
Level 94
Mar 3, 2018
as a non-usa quizzer, i think that 90 secs challenging but right, on my first try got all but missouri
+2
Level 82
Mar 3, 2018
hm.. Missouri? ok.
+12
Level 75
Mar 3, 2018
You should have known I'd have to defend our honor. :) St. Louis was a fur-trading post at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, and the nearby Illinois River which connected the Mississippi River with the Great Lakes. The rivers attracted early settlement, and St. Louis became the commercial center for westward expansion as well as a center for river trade shipping goods south to New Orleans and on to Europe. The Kansas City-Independence-St. Joe region was the beginning point for the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe Trails and the Pony Express which attracted more outfitting businesses, and KC was also a fur trade town located on the river and became a shipping center for cattle. As always, follow the money.
+1
Level 28
Mar 4, 2018
The city of St. Louis was established in 1764, and Missouri became a state in 1821. Not only was it the site of the beginning and end of Lewis and Clark's expedition, it was, quite literally, the gateway to the West, as many people going westward through the Louisiana territory would go centrally through Missouri. Missouri actually had more people than Texas up until 1900.
+2
Level 82
Mar 4, 2018
Yeah, I know. :) I just would have thought that one of the Carolinas would have made it to a million first. Or perhaps Texas or Louisiana. Both were admitted to the union prior to 1857. But, with St Louis and all, makes sense.
+1
Level 20
Mar 4, 2018
I would say add time, but that’s just me. I only got 2 lol.
+1
Level 47
Mar 5, 2018
4 seconds left!
+3
Level 65
Mar 5, 2018
A bit surprising that Kentucky and Tennessee were so populous in the 19th century, and that they reached 1m residents quicker than Georgia.
+2
Level 73
Apr 17, 2019
Transportation and commerce on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and the Natchez Trace led to rapid growth for the cities of Memphis, Louisville, and the surrounding areas - somebody had to get all that cotton and tobacco to market and all the timber that came out of the area to build cities in other parts of the country.
+1
Level 37
Nov 13, 2018
Ohio was founded in 1803 so 29 years later it hit 1 million. The Ohio River helped.
+1
Level 64
Mar 20, 2020
Tha was a good quiz. It made me think of the most populous states back then. However, tha was harder than I thought. It was more challenging for me than I thought it would be in tha some states sort of threw me off. Kentucky and even Indiana and all tha. This quiz, naming the states of the United States tha were the earliest to reach a population of 1 million, was a good quiz. But the description might have a sneaky typo in it though.
+2
Level 51
Apr 30, 2020
Also try my quiz.
+1
Level 56
Jul 21, 2020
You misspelled "that" in the description.
+4
Level 70
Nov 24, 2020
The quiz should specify that this means population of white people only. This would explain why states with large slave populations (e.g., Georgia and North Carolina) don't make this list. North Carolina, for instance, had a million people by around 1840, though 245,000 of those were slaves. Georgia had 1.3 million by 1850, though 390,000 were slaves.
+1
Level 50
Nov 24, 2020
Georgia's on the list though.
+2
Level 71
Nov 24, 2020
What about California? I realize that it was pretty sparsely inhabited in the early 1800s and wasn't a state until 1850, but the 1850s is also when its population boom started so I'd kinda expect it to be a near-miss here.
+2
Level 59
Mar 6, 2023
In the words of Qy: "By 1860 it only had 380,000 people."
+2
Level 66
Mar 8, 2023
I thought the same, that the gold rush would have boomed it into a million well before 1857. But I suppose the sheer difficulty of getting there and settling there in the 19th century kept it nowhere near this list.
+1
Level 75
Nov 24, 2020
Vaguely interesting I s'pose...
+1
Level 67
Mar 6, 2023
Not nearly as interesting as the top 10 most recent winners of Eurovision!
+1
Level 73
Nov 24, 2020
"Name the states of the United States thaT were the earliest to reach a population of 1 million."
+3
Level 36
Nov 24, 2020
I thought California would be there. Surprised that Tennessee and Kentucky are there. I'm not from the USA so I found this a bit hard.
+1
Level 66
Mar 6, 2023
Not even close, really. By 1860 it only had 380,000 people.
+1
Level 15
Jun 11, 2022
how to spell Massachusetts:

BIG, SNEEZE, SETS

MASS, ACHU, SETTS

+1
Level 25
Aug 30, 2022
Does it include the people who were already there, and the slaves ?
+1
Level 66
Mar 6, 2023
Why include non-citizens?
+1
Level 59
Mar 6, 2023
Slaves are included. I don't think natives are.
+1
Level 59
Mar 6, 2023
https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/1744710/first-us-states-to-reach-2-million-people

If you want the 2 million version!

+1
Level 59
Mar 6, 2023
and 3 mil:

https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/1744710/first-us-states-to-reach-3-million-people

+1
Level 64
Aug 9, 2023
Damn!!! Only one I missed was Tennessee. I live in Tennessee BTW