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Social studies & science · 3–12

Random US State Picker

Spin this random state generator to pick one of all 50 states, with region tabs to narrow the draw and an optional tab for Washington, D.C. and the 5 inhabited territories. Every state comes with report-ready facts: capital, statehood year and postal code.

Reviewed 56 states in 6 lists9-minute read

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    Remove winner after spinEach state leaves the wheel once it's picked.
    SoundsTicks while it spins, then a winner sound.
    ConfettiA short celebration on each result.
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      How to run a state report draw with the wheel

      A fair state draw for a class of 25 takes about five minutes. Remove winner is on, so each state leaves the wheel once it's drawn and no two students research the same one. With 50 slices, the wheel also shows a pointer readout: the state under the pointer in big type, so the back row can follow along.

      1. Choose the states in playKeep all 50, or open a region tab and press its Put these on the wheel button to draw only from the Northeast (9), Midwest (12), South (16) or West (13). D.C. and the territories have their own tab.
      2. Keep one wheelWheels with more than 40 slices show a Big list note offering to split the list or make groups. For a state draw, choose to keep one wheel; the readout keeps every thin slice legible.
      3. Spin once per studentCall students in roll order. Press F for presentation mode and Space to spin. Read the state's capital and statehood year from the table so each student leaves the draw with a first fact.
      4. Record who got whatOpen the spin history and press Copy with times. The picks are listed newest first; paste them next to your roster so a lost sticky note never means redoing the draw.
      5. Handle absences and swapsIf a student is out, skip them and spin when they're back, or press Undo to return a state drawn by mistake. If two students agree to trade, note the swap next to the copied list.

      More students than states?

      Add the 6 slices from the D.C. and territories tab for 56 places, or let partners share a state and split the report: one takes geography and the capital, the other history and statehood.

      All 50 states with capitals, statehood years and regions

      Each state's row has the facts most reports open with: the capital, the year it joined the Union and its place in that order, and its two-letter postal code. For the 13 original states, the year is when the state ratified the Constitution. Region tabs follow the U.S. Census Bureau's four regions and nine divisions. The Bureau also counts Washington, D.C. in the South; here it sits on the D.C. and territories tab, so the South tab holds exactly 16 states.

      All 50 states with capitals, statehood years and regions: All 50 states
      StateQuick factsOn the wheel
      AlabamaCapital: Montgomery · Statehood: 1819 (22nd) · AL
      AlaskaCapital: Juneau · Statehood: 1959 (49th) · AK
      ArizonaCapital: Phoenix · Statehood: 1912 (48th) · AZ
      ArkansasCapital: Little Rock · Statehood: 1836 (25th) · AR
      CaliforniaCapital: Sacramento · Statehood: 1850 (31st) · CA
      ColoradoCapital: Denver · Statehood: 1876 (38th) · CO
      ConnecticutCapital: Hartford · Statehood: 1788 (5th) · CT
      DelawareCapital: Dover · Statehood: 1787 (1st) · DE
      FloridaCapital: Tallahassee · Statehood: 1845 (27th) · FL
      GeorgiaCapital: Atlanta · Statehood: 1788 (4th) · GA
      HawaiiCapital: Honolulu · Statehood: 1959 (50th) · HI
      IdahoCapital: Boise · Statehood: 1890 (43rd) · ID
      IllinoisCapital: Springfield · Statehood: 1818 (21st) · IL
      IndianaCapital: Indianapolis · Statehood: 1816 (19th) · IN
      IowaCapital: Des Moines · Statehood: 1846 (29th) · IA
      KansasCapital: Topeka · Statehood: 1861 (34th) · KS
      KentuckyCapital: Frankfort · Statehood: 1792 (15th) · KY
      LouisianaCapital: Baton Rouge · Statehood: 1812 (18th) · LA
      MaineCapital: Augusta · Statehood: 1820 (23rd) · ME
      MarylandCapital: Annapolis · Statehood: 1788 (7th) · MD
      MassachusettsCapital: Boston · Statehood: 1788 (6th) · MA
      MichiganCapital: Lansing · Statehood: 1837 (26th) · MI
      MinnesotaCapital: Saint Paul · Statehood: 1858 (32nd) · MN
      MississippiCapital: Jackson · Statehood: 1817 (20th) · MS
      MissouriCapital: Jefferson City · Statehood: 1821 (24th) · MO
      MontanaCapital: Helena · Statehood: 1889 (41st) · MT
      NebraskaCapital: Lincoln · Statehood: 1867 (37th) · NE
      NevadaCapital: Carson City · Statehood: 1864 (36th) · NV
      New HampshireCapital: Concord · Statehood: 1788 (9th) · NH
      New JerseyCapital: Trenton · Statehood: 1787 (3rd) · NJ
      New MexicoCapital: Santa Fe · Statehood: 1912 (47th) · NM
      New YorkCapital: Albany · Statehood: 1788 (11th) · NY
      North CarolinaCapital: Raleigh · Statehood: 1789 (12th) · NC
      North DakotaCapital: Bismarck · Statehood: 1889 (39th) · ND
      OhioCapital: Columbus · Statehood: 1803 (17th) · OH
      OklahomaCapital: Oklahoma City · Statehood: 1907 (46th) · OK
      OregonCapital: Salem · Statehood: 1859 (33rd) · OR
      PennsylvaniaCapital: Harrisburg · Statehood: 1787 (2nd) · PA
      Rhode IslandCapital: Providence · Statehood: 1790 (13th) · RI
      South CarolinaCapital: Columbia · Statehood: 1788 (8th) · SC
      South DakotaCapital: Pierre · Statehood: 1889 (40th) · SD
      TennesseeCapital: Nashville · Statehood: 1796 (16th) · TN
      TexasCapital: Austin · Statehood: 1845 (28th) · TX
      UtahCapital: Salt Lake City · Statehood: 1896 (45th) · UT
      VermontCapital: Montpelier · Statehood: 1791 (14th) · VT
      VirginiaCapital: Richmond · Statehood: 1788 (10th) · VA
      WashingtonCapital: Olympia · Statehood: 1889 (42nd) · WA
      West VirginiaCapital: Charleston · Statehood: 1863 (35th) · WV
      WisconsinCapital: Madison · Statehood: 1848 (30th) · WI
      WyomingCapital: Cheyenne · Statehood: 1890 (44th) · WY
      All 50 states · replaces the current list, Undo brings it back

      All 50 states, with capitals, admission years and order, and USPS codes, grouped by U.S. Census Bureau region and division. For the 13 original states, the year is when each ratified the Constitution. Washington, D.C. and the 5 inhabited territories are on their own tab. Checked October 2026.

      8 ways to use the random US state picker

      State report draw

      Give each student a different state for a report, poster or travel brochure. Remove winner is on, so nobody doubles up. Before your next section, press Put these 50 on the wheel on the All 50 tab to start fresh.

      Road-trip and vacation picker

      Families use a random state generator for vacation ideas: spin for next summer's trip or a someday list. Open a region tab to stay within driving range, and delete states you've visited in the row editor. Planning a national-park trip? The West tab holds more than half of the country's national parks.

      State of the day

      Spin one state at morning meeting, find it on the wall map and read its row from the table. Before you close the tab, copy the share link: it carries the shrinking wheel, so tomorrow's spin skips the states you've done.

      One region at a time

      Teaching regions? Load just one tab: the Northeast's 9 pair well with a New England and Middle Atlantic colonies unit, and the Midwest's 12 with a farming and Great Lakes unit.

      Include D.C. and the territories

      More than 3 million people live in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. Add them, plus Washington, D.C., to show students the whole country, not only the 50 states.

      Postcard from a state

      Spin a state and have students write a postcard from it: one place they'd visit, the weather that week, and the capital in the return address. It turns ten minutes of research into a short writing piece.

      Region teams for a group project

      Make four groups with the group generator, give each group a Census region, then spin inside that region's tab for each member's state. Every group's states touch, so they can build one shared map.

      Open the group generator

      Follow up with a capitals quiz

      Once every student has a state, run a quick quiz: spin the capitals wheel and the student who owns that state answers first.

      Random US state picker: frequently asked questions

      How many states are in the United States?

      Fifty. Hawaii was the last to join, on August 21, 1959, about seven and a half months after Alaska. The country also includes Washington, D.C., a federal district that isn't part of any state, and five inhabited territories: Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. A handful of small Pacific and Caribbean islands are U.S. territories with no permanent residents.

      What are the four regions of the United States?

      The U.S. Census Bureau groups the states into four regions: the Northeast (9 states), the Midwest (12), the South (16, plus Washington, D.C.) and the West (13). Each region splits into divisions, nine in all, such as New England and the Pacific. Many elementary textbooks use five regions instead (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and West), so check which map your class uses before you spin.

      What were the original 13 states?

      In the order they ratified the Constitution: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island. Delaware ratified first, on December 7, 1787, which is why it's nicknamed the First State. Rhode Island was last, in May 1790.

      Are Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico states?

      No. Washington, D.C. is a federal district set up as the seat of the national government, and Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory. People born in either place are U.S. citizens. D.C. residents have voted for president since 1964 under the 23rd Amendment; Puerto Rico residents can't vote in the general election for president. Each sends one non-voting member to the House of Representatives.

      Which states are the biggest and smallest?

      By area, Alaska is the largest state, more than twice the size of Texas, and Rhode Island is the smallest. By population, California has the most people and Wyoming the fewest, according to the 2020 Census. Those four make good comparison questions once students have drawn their own states.

      How do I give every student a different state?

      Keep Remove winner on (it's on for this template) and spin once per student. Each state leaves the wheel when it's drawn, so a class of 30 gets 30 different states and 20 stay on the wheel. Press Undo if a state is removed by mistake. Afterward, Copy with times in the history gives you a timed record of every pick, which settles any "I wanted Hawaii" debate.

      How the randomness works

      When you press Spin, ChalkSpin asks your browser's Web Crypto generator for a random number and uses it to choose the winning slice before the wheel starts turning. The animation then lands on that slice. Each slice's chance is its share of the wheel: 50 equal states means a 1 in 50 chance each.

      Weights are always visible: a state marked *2 gets a slice twice as wide, so everyone can see why it comes up more. With Remove winner on, a state can't come up twice in one round.

      Read the full randomness explainer

      Generator
      Web Crypto (crypto.getRandomValues), in your browser
      Odds
      Equal to each slice's size on the wheel
      Weights
      Shown openly as wider slices, never hidden
      Repeats
      Off when Remove winner is on
      Your list
      Stays in this browser unless you share or save it
      Last reviewed Written for Grades 3–12 teachers and families in the U.S.On the lists 56 statesSuggest a state

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