Fewer Than 50 Percent Of Trivia Players Can Name All 50 States

By John Dodge

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Less than half of players on an online game site could name all 50 U.S. states.

A quiz/trivia site called Sporcle gives players 10 minutes to name all the states.

Players don't even have to locate the states, just name and spell them.

A total of 45 percent of players were able to get all 50. The site doesn't break down how many non-U.S. residents played the game, which could account for the results. However, the game has been played over 12 million times and if all Americans can't name all 50 states, we have a problem.

About 25 percent were able to name between 45-49 states, so perhaps that can be considered a silver lining: They got close!

This map was created based on the percentage of times that each state was named correctly.

The 10 most easily recognizable states were: Texas 97.6 percent; California 97.6; New York 96.8; Washington 96.8; Florida 96.7; North Dakota 93.8;
Alaska 93.7; South Dakota 93.7; North Carolina 92.9 and Nevada 92.8.

This most-difficult state to name was Missouri (ironically, the Show Me State).

The bottom 10: Indiana 82.1 percent; Iowa 81.9; Delaware 81.9; Maryland 81.2; Wisconsin 81; Massachusetts 80.6; Nebraska 80.5; Connecticut 79.9; Minnesota 79; Missouri 78.6.

Illinois stumped 13 percent of the players and ranked 29th.