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Category Elimination - U.S. States #2

In each group, name any answer which matches the first category to reveal the second category, then name any answer which applies to both categories to reveal a third, and so on.
# = the number of answers possible
Answer must correspond to the highlighted yellow box.
All data as of February 2022.
Quiz by Stewart
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Last updated: February 10, 2022
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First submittedSeptember 12, 2019
Times taken91,592
Average score75.0%
Rating4.81
3:20
Enter state here
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Green Categories
40
States with only one word
31
... which were not confederate states
6
... with a land area less than 30,000 mi²
1
... and share a land border with another country
Vermont
 
Orange Categories
25
States in the West or Midwest Census Region
20
... which don't border an ocean
7
... which contain the letter S
1
... and have more than 8 million people
Illinois
Blue Categories
30
States with at least 8 letters
20
... not included in the Louisiana Purchase
5
... with more than 500 people per mi²
1
... with a land area greater than 8,000 mi²
Maryland
 
Purple Categories
19
States whose first two letters is their 2-letter
state code
9
... whose capital city is their largest city
4
... with a maximum elevation over 2,500m
1
... and with fewer than 20 people per mi²
Wyoming
+51
Level 75
Sep 12, 2019
Definitely would have suspected that Maryland counted as north-east.
+23
Level 68
Sep 12, 2019
Yeah the Census Regions can be a little odd. This is why I chose to say "not in the Northeast Region" as opposed to "in the South Region", because Maryland is definitely not south.
+20
Level 85
Sep 13, 2019
South of the Mason-Dixon line.
+5
Level 45
May 7, 2020
Even today, Maryland and Delaware defy being placed in north or south categories.
+10
Level 70
Dec 5, 2019
Maryland is certainly not northeast. I would go with mid-Atlantic, but being south of the Mason-Dixon line, I would classify it as a southern state before I would call it northeast.
+5
Level 15
Oct 26, 2020
noo, Maryland both historically and geographically is more northeastern than southern
+1
Level 38
May 18, 2021
Historically, Maryland has always been in the south.
+5
Level 54
Nov 13, 2021
virginia, maryland, delaware, dc, and maybe west virginia are definitely all outliers of being northern or southern. i would personally place them in the south but they definitely deserve their own region.
+3
Level 75
Jan 15, 2020
Maybe re-tweak that Maryland clue? That "northeast" clue is misleading.
+6
Level 45
May 9, 2020
Take it up with the Census lol. Maryland isn't in the Northeast Census Region
+4
Level 71
Jan 31, 2021
Mid-Atlantic would be the most accurate word, and historically Maryland has been associated with the South as it was a slave (technically border) state, but I'd say today Maryland (and indeed all of the Mid-Atlantic other then Virginia maybe) is culturally part of the North-East.
+1
Level 70
Sep 13, 2021
me too. Ironically I had typed Maryland for the first 3 answers, then tried to guess other states with high population density as I assumed Maryland was in the northeast region.

I feel like if you get the answer from the first clue, it should fill in all of them.

+7
Level 92
Jan 15, 2020
Question on the population density-- according to 2015 data, no state is over 500/km2. New Jersey's the highest at 470. Did you mean per square mile? The count holds if you change to over 200 km2.
+7
Level 68
Jan 15, 2020
Whoops! Yep looks like I'm using mi2 data for states, got confused as use km for countries! Thanks for the spot.
+2
Level 66
Jan 16, 2020
While I did eventually get it - I do have to gripe a tad about the "coastal" clue. The final answer of that section does indeed have a coast - albeit a lake one. Perhaps changing the definition to "is not on the ocean coast" or something to that effect would be helpful.
+3
Level 68
Jan 16, 2020
Thanks! I've updated it to say "doesn't border an ocean" rather than coastal, should be clearer. :)
+9
Level 88
Jan 16, 2020
I love it when the first answer you try for a category gets you all the way through! Doesn't happen very often, but it's nice when it does :)
+1
Level 75
Apr 14, 2020
For me it always seems to be the opposite: I have to think of a new one with every new bit of information...
+1
Level 20
May 19, 2020
yeah...
+2
Level 31
Jan 24, 2020
Nice quiz! The Maryland as north-east or mid-atlantic was slightly confusing, but I got it. US States are better quizzes than countries because there are 196 countries and only fifty states. Consider this suggestion.
+2
Level 65
Feb 24, 2020
For non-Americans, the cesus regions clues are something that give little information. Maybe try to avoid them in future installments? Anyway, I learnt something out of this quiz
+1
Level 68
Feb 24, 2020
Yes I won't be using them after this one. The goal was to provide a way of differentiating states physically geographically, but the Census regions are too arbitrarily defined for that.
+2
Level 75
Apr 14, 2020
I agree. I can see that it's useful to have rigidly defined geographical zones, but it comes across as a bit of a cop-out since nobody outside the US will be aware of it at all. Great quizzes in this series though, we appreciate your hard work!
+2
Level 84
Apr 5, 2022
True - but, a lot of people IN the US don't know census regions, either...
+1
Level 67
Feb 24, 2020
Only missed Utah
+1
Level 66
Feb 24, 2020
Thought I actually caught an error with Arkansas not working for the pink/lower right. Then I noticed elevation was in meters and not feet. Oops.
+1
Level 23
Feb 25, 2020
Really difficult as a Non-American, and also slightly confusing because I am somewhat guessing.

Liked the idea though, would like to see this format in something a little bit easier/general knowledge.

+1
Level 53
Feb 27, 2020
the US census bureau does indeed place maryland in the northeast region, i'd definitely word that a little better
+1
Level 59
Oct 30, 2020
yellow is all illinois :D
+1
Level 58
Apr 5, 2022
New Jersey could also apply for the blue category
+1
Level 68
Apr 5, 2022
New Jersey only has 7500 square miles of land area.
+1
Level 48
Apr 5, 2022
The only reason I didn't finish and get them all was because I misread "contain the letter s" as "DON'T contain the letter s." I even thought, "it has to be Illinois, right? But that has 's' in the name..." lol
+1
Level 50
Apr 6, 2022
nice quiz, but false. Wyoming doesnt exist
+1
Level 37
Apr 7, 2022
I started with maryland and it was right
+1
Level 53
Sep 21, 2022
Massachusetts fits for the blue category as well. Population density is over 800 people per square mile and the land area is 10,554 mi^2.

Great quiz though! Really enjoyed it!

+1
Level 68
Sep 22, 2022
That's total area. Land area is only 7840 square miles
+1
Level 48
Aug 30, 2023
I got confused by the "west" part, so, in desperation, I started typing states that within and westards from the Dakotas /Nebraska/ Kansas line. It never occoured to me that the "west" states would also be as far east as Illinois.
+1
Level 82
Feb 7, 2024
Midwest
+1
Level 56
Oct 23, 2023
For the Maryland one I guessed Maryland for a country with 8 letters and just used it for all of them. I got lucky.
+1
Level 45
Feb 11, 2024
#19 wtf? I tried AL, AZ, AR, FL, GA, ID, IN, IL, MA, MI, NE, OK. OR and UT and none of them are accepted.
+1
Level 68
Feb 11, 2024
You need to type the state, not the abbreviation. This quiz is about U.S. States