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Top 10 Most Populous U.S. States

Can you name the 10 states of the U.S. that have the largest populations?
July 2023 census estimates
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Quiz by KoljiVriVoda
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Last updated: December 23, 2023
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First submittedMarch 26, 2016
Times taken121,869
Average score80.0%
Rating4.97
1:30
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Population
State
39.0 mil
California
30.5 mil
Texas
22.6 mil
Florida
19.6 mil
New York
13.0 mil
Pennsylvania
Population
State
12.5 mil
Illinois
11.8 mil
Ohio
11.0 mil
Georgia
10.8 mil
North Carolina
10.0 mil
Michigan
+13
Level 61
Jun 28, 2016
Missed Ohio and Illinois
+19
Level 31
Aug 2, 2016
i got OH since i live there, and guessed IL because of Chicago. Haha
+2
Level 26
Jan 20, 2022
I got illinois cuz i live there and ohio cuz of cleveland
+4
Level 54
Mar 7, 2022
Cleveland doesn't even have half a million people.
+3
Level 55
Jul 5, 2022
The urban area has 2 million people.
+2
Level 26
Sep 25, 2022
that's not really that much in relative though. A lot of metro areas have two million.
+5
Level 57
Oct 25, 2022
i got ohio because i remembered how much people talk about it during the presidential elections. lol
+2
Level 28
Dec 6, 2022
only in ohio
+29
Level 80
Aug 1, 2016
I have to stop trying to do these fast quizzes on my phone!
+7
Level 58
Aug 1, 2016
Pennsylvania and Georgia is what got me...
+4
Level 66
Aug 1, 2016
Anyone know what city is pictured in the quiz thumbnail?
+14
Level 76
Aug 1, 2016
Just a guess, but I'd pick San Francisco.
+8
Level 31
Aug 2, 2016
A Google image search best guessed it to be Haight Ashbury San Francisco
+5
Level 44
Mar 8, 2020
Or Hashbury in San Fierro (San Andreas)
+6
Level 58
Aug 4, 2016
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Haight_Ashbury11.JPG
+2
Level 26
Dec 19, 2020
I think it's San Francisco
+4
Level 47
Aug 1, 2016
I never would have guessed Ohio. I just drove through it and it was all trees and farmland.
+11
Level 31
Aug 2, 2016
Lol the same could be said for any of the states really.
+15
Level 82
Aug 4, 2016
If there weren't a lot of people in Ohio it wouldn't be such a hotly contested state in presidential elections.
+16
Level 88
Jan 21, 2020
Ohio developed like Germany, with many mid-sized cities spread across it.
+2
Level 54
Dec 24, 2020
except for Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati
+1
Level 64
Mar 28, 2021
I think that's what they meant
+7
Level 60
Jan 18, 2022
Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati are all arguably big cities. I think he was referring to the fact that everyone knows these cities, but forget there's a bunch of medium size cities around too (Toledo, Dayton, Akron, Youngstown, etc.) that make up a significant amount of the population that typical non-Ohioans do not think about.
+4
Level 58
Aug 9, 2016
Got them all though the last one took me a couple of guesses. Was just trying to remember electoral votes since these states play major roles in elections.
+3
Level 65
Jan 10, 2018
Lol Michigan's population is 9.9 Million
+6
Level ∞
May 19, 2018
9,962,311 in 2017. I think they will probably get to 10 million in the next two or three years.
+5
Level ∞
Apr 11, 2019
9,995,915 in 2018. So close!!
+3
Level 58
Jul 23, 2019
The population has surpassed 10 million by now, can you update the quiz?
+6
Level ∞
Jul 23, 2019
Not until new census estimates are released.
+6
Level ∞
Jan 21, 2020
Not only did Michigan not reach 10 million, but the estimates for 2018 were revised downward.
+2
Level ∞
Dec 25, 2020
I just found some intercensus data, and it looks like Michigan did briefly surpass 10 million from 2002–2007.
+1
Level ∞
Dec 23, 2023
Now at 10,037,261.

It seems like Michigan is destined to be right around 10 million forever.

+1
Level 31
Feb 21, 2019
I know LoLllll

Trololol

+4
Level 45
May 23, 2018
Done in 28 seconds
+3
Level 27
Jul 25, 2018
New York has more than 19.9 million people! About 18 million people live in the new york city metro area alone!
+22
Level 85
Aug 17, 2018
Well, yes, but the NY metro area is Long Island, the bottom part of NY, half of New Jersey, 1/3 of Connecticut, and a bit of Pennsylvania.
+4
Level 37
Nov 12, 2018
I live in Cincinnati Ohio. There are a lot of small towns all across Ohio.
+3
Level 31
Feb 21, 2019
When I was five, I lived in Ohio, Columbus.
+6
Level 28
Feb 21, 2019
Ohio, Columbus? You mean Columbus, Ohio?
+8
Level 52
Nov 9, 2020
Nah he meant Ohio, Colombia
+5
Level 28
Feb 20, 2019
My last guess was Georgia. Didn't type fast enough.

Quizzes like these should freeze when you type.

+17
Level 28
Feb 22, 2019
Wouldn’t you just be able to constantly type to make the timer no worry?
+2
Level 31
Feb 21, 2019
Missed Georgia and North Carolina.
+2
Level 28
Feb 21, 2019
I only got North Carolina because of a quiz I made lol
+3
Level 63
Feb 21, 2019
Got them all with 0:49 remaining, at 9:40:36 PM on February 21, 2019, increasing my point total by 5 to 837. Half are obvious, the other half require a bit more knowledge.
+3
Level 43
Jul 5, 2019
Think of how many electoral votes each state gets for help
+6
Level 59
Aug 11, 2019
The way people are leaving my home state Illinois soon it will disappear from this list.
+4
Level 77
Aug 11, 2019
Why is that?
+4
Level ∞
Jan 21, 2020
High taxes, high crime, high cost of living (Chicago only), terrible weather.
+2
Level ∞
Jan 21, 2020
New York, Illinois, and New Jersey all shrank between 2018 and 2019.
+1
Level 50
Jan 18, 2022
Jersey still managed to have a net gain despite heavy outflow.
+5
Level 74
Jan 21, 2020
I'm shocked I got 10/10 on my first try. And I'm doubly shocked that I got them in order. But I know I must be brave and accept this new reality. O thank you quiz gods for not smiting me this day!
+2
Level 90
Feb 18, 2020
Amazed how it seemed California would never get surpassed when I was a young geography nerd kid in the 80s. Probably isn't happening in my lifetime but there is a good chance it happens in the my kid's lifetime.
+4
Level 82
Mar 8, 2020
I doubt it. Florida isn't as big and Texas isn't as nice. Current economic and demographic trends will not continue on forever in the same direction.
+1
Level 75
Jan 18, 2022
I remember in the 1970s Boeing was laying off workers in Seattle and a billboard was put up which said, "Will the last person leaving Seattle please turn out the lights." After a few years the city came back, but there is currently an exodus from California and New York that may not return in the near future.
+1
Level 82
Jan 18, 2022
Maybe. I just doubt that we'll see California get overtaken by Texas and/or Florida any time soon. Just because there is some population growth or loss in one state over a few years... doesn't mean that this will continue at the same rate in perpetuity. Especially given that most of this migration is, as I've pointed out a hundred times before, about jobs. If some companies open up in Austin or Atlanta and hire a bunch of people (or, inversely, if Boeing lays off a bunch of people in Seattle), you'll see a large spike in immigration or emigration. But those spikes are not sustainable. Even IF current growth rates continued exactly as they are... Texas would not overtake California until 2045. But... there is good reason to believe that they will not continue as they are. And it's not unreasonable to suspect that California will remain the most populous US state through 2050, 2080, or even beyond. And I'll very likely be dead before 2080.
+1
Level 82
Jan 18, 2022
My prediction: Texas will continue growing in population for a few years, closing the gap between it and CA, but Texas growth will plateau, and CA shrinkage will stop, and then reverse, within the next 10-15 years. By 2030 TX will be closer to overtaking CA than ever, but by 2050 I think the gap will be widening again and CA will not be overtaken by any state in the foreseeable future.

One caveat: if immigration policy significantly changes so that TX starts to see even more migration from Latin America, it could overtake CA.

And as for FL, given many factors including its remarkable failures in leadership, the fact that it is already overcrowded in parts and most of the people who live there seem to hate it, and, most importantly climate change, the state will start to see pretty rapid contraction in its economy as soon as this decade, accelerating through the 2030s, 2040s, and 2050s.. followed by demographic decline.. and by 2100 it won't even be in the top 10 anymore.

+3
Level 75
Jan 18, 2022
As you said, it's about jobs. Tesla is planning on bringing 5000 jobs to Austin, and Apple is bringing 5000 and expects to eventually bring up to 15,000 jobs to Austin. About 20 more companies either moved or expanded facilities in Texas in 2020, including Hewlett Packard and Oracle. Texas has no income tax, fewer regulations, and cheaper housing, which makes it a no-brainer for companies to move their headquarters there. People move there for the jobs and housing, companies move there for their bottom lines.
+1
Level 82
Nov 3, 2022
Another thing bad for Florida's future demography is that it is currently the state with the 5th-oldest median resident age, beaten out only by West Virginia and a handful of small states in New England.

California and Texas are both younger than the national average, with Texas edging out California but only slightly.

+4
Level 66
Mar 8, 2020
Thank you for not making this a 20 sec quiz like most of these quizzes ( and then still the comment section is filled with people btching it has too much time... like it affects them if there is time left)
+1
Level 60
Feb 15, 2023
I did it with 2 seconds to spare. Agree, some quizzes have ridiculous time limits that aren't fair to most people. But the nerds complain it's too long.
+2
Level 32
Mar 9, 2020
Missed North Carolina. I guessed Virginia but assumed North Carolina was smaller so I didn’t try it.
+1
Level 65
Apr 19, 2022
Ditto
+1
Level 65
Sep 20, 2023
I live in NC, and there are a surprisingly large amount of people scattered across the state. This is especially true due to job growth in recent years.
+2
Level 67
Jun 26, 2020
I got 100% by looking at the comments, but I'm surprised that Michigan, North Carolina, & Georgia were on there.
+8
Level 79
Aug 24, 2020
Congrats for cheating!
+2
Level 71
Jan 18, 2022
Why would you look at the comments before taking the quiz? You might as well just google the answers
+3
Level 46
Mar 3, 2021
was able to guess correctly and finish first try
+3
Level 28
Jun 16, 2021
I got all of them right I’m glad the state I live in is on there!
+3
Level 21
Aug 22, 2021
cool i lierally got them all and i live in uk :)
+3
Level 38
Jan 18, 2022
when you guessed South Carolina but not North Carolina:
+1
Level 26
Sep 25, 2022
why? it's pretty common knowledge that NC is way bigger and more developed
+2
Level 67
Jan 18, 2022
Just missed Michigan
+1
Level 65
Apr 19, 2022
Flint Detroit and Pontiac. Aka the Sunni Triangle.
+4
Level 63
Jan 19, 2022
Could've sworn AZ has more than 10m

Guess I was wrong

+1
Level 59
Jan 29, 2022
Arizona has about 7.2 million people, being the 14th most populated state
+1
Level 59
Apr 5, 2022
That's so sad. Imagine having a capital city named Washington D.C,

Surprised no ones done it yet!

+4
Level 66
May 26, 2023
What?
+1
Level 59
Nov 16, 2022
Only in ohio bruh
+2
Level 50
Jan 15, 2023
I got all in 0:37 on my first try. I know this because I've memorized Electoral College maps.
+1
Level 60
Feb 15, 2023
10/10 with 2 seconds to spare. Didn't know last one but guessed Georgia out of no where. LOL.
+1
Level 52
Feb 27, 2023
so easy

Got it within 0:45

+1
Level 32
Apr 2, 2023
Can't believe I forgot New York. 💀
+1
Level 21
Jan 7, 2024
got all but Michigan