Here's What Happens When You Ask 400 People Where All 50 States Are

A new study conducted by a real-estate company suggests Americans aren't too knowledgeable about U.S. geography.

When Movoto asked 400 survey participants to locate seven states, respondents could only identify an average of 3.4.

"The good news is that 94% do know where the United States itself is – the bad news is that 3 out of 10 thought the U.S. population was between 1 to 2 billion," the real-estate company added in a blog post.

Video shows real-time look as respondents attempt to locate states on a map:

Movoto did note, however, that "predictably ... respondents had an easy time recognizing some of the largest and most iconic U.S. states."

[sharequote align="center"] "Predictably...respondents had an easy time recognizing some of the largest and most iconic U.S. states."[/sharequote]

Nevertheless, survey participants seemed a bit perplexed by where New York falls on a map. According to Movoto, "a substantial segment" mistook Pennsylvania for the Empire State.

In fact, perhaps the toughest challenge was for individuals to locate specific states in the Northeast.

"Although most of the answers for Maine were correct, Delaware was often placed in Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maryland. Rhode Island generated similar answers, with some respondents even placing it in New Jersey," Movoto's blog post said. "Meanwhile, New Hampshire and Vermont were placed all over New England, and Massachusetts was frequently mislabeled as Connecticut. Clearly, plenty of our quiz-takers were simply guessing their way through New England."

Despite this, the real-estate company said the results are "not all bad," pointing out that "most people seem to have a good grasp of broad strokes."

Featured image courtesy of Shutterstock.

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