Washington DC Quiz
Washington, D.C. is not a state — and Puerto Rico, Guam and the other territories are not states either. Learn all six in one quiz: capitals, status and the facts that trip everyone up.
Main Quiz: 10 questions drawn from 28, +10 per correct answer, 3 lives, best streak tracked. Capitals Drill: all 6 capitals. Learn Mode: fact cards for D.C. and each territory.
Populations are rounded from the 2020 Census. Territory governors change after elections, so this quiz never names them — it teaches the facts that stay true.
Six cards: Washington, D.C. and the five inhabited territories. Tap a card to flip it, or pick a place below.
Tap the card to flip it
Tap the card to flip back
How the washington dc quiz Works
One quiz, six places: Washington, D.C. plus the five inhabited U.S. territories. This quiz teaches you the capitals, the political status and the facts that trip everyone up.
Press Main Quiz and you get 10 questions drawn at random from a bank of 28. Every correct answer scores 10 points. You have 3 lives: a wrong answer costs one life, and the quiz ends early if you run out. Your streak counts too — the result screen shows your best run of correct answers in a row, so you can see whether you are guessing or really learning.
Capitals Drill is the quick round: six questions, one per capital — Washington, D.C., San Juan, Hagåtña, Charlotte Amalie, Pago Pago and Saipan. Learn Mode is the study deck: six flip cards, one for D.C. and one for each territory, with the capital, the status and the facts that matter on each card. Read the cards first, then take the quiz — that order is the whole trick.
There is no timer and no signup. Play on your phone or your laptop, as many times as you like. Every question explains its answer right after you answer it, so even a wrong answer teaches you something.
How to Guess a Capital or a Status
Most questions in this quiz have one of two shapes: “What is the capital of…?” or “What is the status of…?” Learn the method for each.
1. Split the map in two
Two territories are in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands) and three are in the Pacific (Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands). If a question mentions the Caribbean, two answers are already gone.
2. Learn capitals in pairs
San Juan goes with Puerto Rico, Hagåtña with Guam, Charlotte Amalie with the Virgin Islands, Pago Pago with American Samoa, Saipan with the Northern Mariana Islands. Say the pair out loud together, never the capital alone.
3. Status has only two answers
Every territory is unincorporated — none of them is a state. The only thing that changes is the detail: Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands are commonwealths, Guam and the Virgin Islands are organised, American Samoa is unorganised.
4. One fact per place
Attach one unforgettable fact to each territory: Puerto Rico is the biggest, Guam sees the sunrise first, the Virgin Islands were bought from Denmark, American Samoa is south of the equator, the Northern Mariana Islands are a commonwealth. The fact pulls the name with it.
Why Practise Here
D.C. and the territories are the part of American geography that school usually skips. This quiz covers exactly that gap.
Six places, one quiz
Most quizzes stop at the 50 states. This one starts where they stop: the capital district and the five territories that are part of the United States but are not states.
Learn first, test second
Learn Mode gives you the facts on flip cards before the quiz asks you anything. You are never tested on something you have not been shown.
Every answer explains itself
After each question you see why the answer is right — the amendment, the year, the ocean, the history. Wrong answers become lessons, not just red marks.
Short and repeatable
Ten questions, three lives, no timer. A full round takes about three minutes, so you can play it again tomorrow and watch your score climb.
Why D.C. and the Territories Feel Hard — and Fun
This topic is hard for one honest reason: it breaks the rule you learned in school. Once you see the broken rule, the washington dc quiz gets much easier.
The rule you learned is “America = 50 states”. D.C. and the territories break it in three different ways. First, D.C. is the capital of the country and yet it is not a state — it has no governor, no senators, and only a nonvoting delegate in the House, even though about 700,000 people live there. Second, the territories are part of the United States but not states either — their residents are American, yet they cannot vote for President. Third, the five territories are not all the same: two are commonwealths, one is unorganised, and the people born in American Samoa are U.S. nationals rather than U.S. citizens.
That is also why it is fun. These are the facts that surprise people at trivia nights and in classrooms: D.C. has three electoral votes, Puerto Rico has more people than 21 states, Guam sees the sunrise before anywhere else in America, and the only U.S. national park south of the equator is in American Samoa. Learn six places and you know answers most adults do not.
Worked Examples
Three real questions from the quiz, answered the way you should think them through.
How many electoral votes does Washington, D.C. have?
Answer: three. The 23rd Amendment (1961) gave D.C. three electoral votes — the same as the least populous state. D.C. first voted for President in 1964. Remember “three” and you have the amendment, the number and the year in one fact.
What is the capital of Guam?
Answer: Hagåtña. The trap is Dededo, the largest town — but the capital is Hagåtña, called Agana until 1998. Rule: the biggest town is not always the capital. Puerto Rico is the exception, because San Juan is both.
People born in American Samoa are…?
Answer: U.S. nationals, not U.S. citizens. This is the only inhabited territory where that is true. In Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands, people born there are U.S. citizens. One exception, one fact — learn it as a pair.
Notice the pattern: each answer comes with one extra fact that locks it in. Three electoral votes, the 23rd Amendment, 1964. Hagåtña, not Dededo, renamed in 1998. American Samoa, nationals not citizens. Learn the pair, not just the word.
Study Habits That Actually Work
Six places is a small job. One card a day and you know them all in a week.
- Day 1 — D.C. first: not a state, three electoral votes, 23rd Amendment, no senators, one nonvoting delegate. Say the five facts out loud three times.
- Day 2 — The Caribbean pair: Puerto Rico (San Juan, biggest, commonwealth, from Spain in 1898) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (Charlotte Amalie, bought from Denmark in 1917).
- Day 3 — The Pacific three: Guam (Hagåtña, sunrise first), American Samoa (Pago Pago, south of the equator, U.S. nationals) and the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan, commonwealth).
- Day 4 — Capitals only: run the Capitals Drill three times. Six capitals, six questions, until all six come without thinking.
- Day 5 — Full quiz: play the Main Quiz twice. Read every explanation, especially for the questions you missed.
Do not cram all six places in one sitting. One place a day, said out loud, beats an hour of reading — because the quiz asks you to recall, not to recognise.
Practice Modes
Three ways to play, one goal: know all six places cold. Pick the mode that fits the time you have today.
Main Quiz
Ten questions drawn at random from 28. +10 per correct answer, three lives, streak tracked, and a result screen with your misses reviewed. Score 7 or more and you earn the DC Expert badge.
Capitals Drill
Six questions, one per capital: Washington, D.C., San Juan, Hagåtña, Charlotte Amalie, Pago Pago and Saipan. The fastest way to fix the capitals in your memory.
Learn Mode
Six flip cards — D.C. and each territory — with the capital, the status and the key facts on the back. Tap a card to flip it, or pick a place from the chips below the cards.
Start with Learn Mode, then the Capitals Drill, then the Main Quiz. That order — learn, drill, test — is the whole method behind this washington dc quiz.
Learn Mode: Six Cards, Six Places
Learn Mode works because it forces you to recall — not recognise. Here is how to use it well.
Each card shows one place on the front: its name and one line about it. Tap the card to flip it and see the facts on the back — the capital, the status, the population, the history. Before you flip, try to say the capital out loud. If you cannot say it, that is the card to study.
Work through the cards in order the first time: D.C., then Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. After that, use the chips to jump straight to your weak places. A card is learned when you can say its capital and one fact about it without flipping.
Two cards deserve extra attention. American Samoa is the only place where people born there are U.S. nationals, not U.S. citizens — and Guam’s capital changed its name from Agana to Hagåtña in 1998. Those two details are the most common wrong answers in the quiz.
Traps to Avoid
Most wrong answers in this quiz come from six traps. Learn them once and they never cost you a life again.
Washington State vs Washington, D.C.
Washington State is a state in the north-west, with its capital at Olympia. Washington, D.C. is the federal district on the east coast. Same name, different places.
Biggest town is not the capital
Guam’s largest town is Dededo, but its capital is Hagåtña. American Samoa’s largest town is Tafuna, but its capital is Pago Pago. Only Puerto Rico has its capital as its biggest city.
D.C. votes for President — but not for Congress
D.C. has three electoral votes and votes for President. It has no voting senators and no voting representative. Both facts are true at the same time.
Not all territories are the same
Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands are commonwealths. American Samoa is unorganised. And people born in American Samoa are U.S. nationals, not citizens.
1898 vs 1917
Puerto Rico and Guam came from Spain in 1898. The U.S. Virgin Islands were bought from Denmark in 1917 — a different century, a different seller.
Five territories, not four
People forget the Northern Mariana Islands. Count them on your fingers: Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands. Five.
Washington DC Quiz FAQ
Is Washington, D.C. a state?
No. Washington, D.C. is a federal district — the seat of the federal government. It has no governor, no senators, and one nonvoting delegate in the House of Representatives.
How many U.S. territories are there?
Five inhabited territories: Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. Nine more small islands have no permanent population.
Can people in the territories vote for President?
No. Residents of the territories cannot vote in presidential elections. D.C. residents can, because the 23rd Amendment gave D.C. three electoral votes — but D.C. still has no voting representation in Congress.
What are the capitals of the five territories?
San Juan (Puerto Rico), Hagåtña (Guam), Charlotte Amalie (U.S. Virgin Islands), Pago Pago (American Samoa) and Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands).
Does the quiz have a timer?
No. Take as long as you need on each question.
How do I earn the DC Expert badge?
Score 7 or more out of 10 in the Main Quiz, or get all 6 capitals right in the Capitals Drill. A wrong answer costs one of your three lives, so read each question twice.
Are people born in the territories U.S. citizens?
In four of the five territories, yes — Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. In American Samoa, people born there are U.S. nationals, not U.S. citizens.
Why does D.C. have three electoral votes?
The 23rd Amendment (1961) gave D.C. as many electoral votes as the least populous state — which is three. D.C. first voted for President in 1964.
Ready to Play? Start Your washington dc quiz
You know the six places, you know the traps, and you know the capitals. The only thing left is to play.
Start with Learn Mode — flip all six cards once. Then run the Capitals Drill until all six capitals come without thinking. Then take the Main Quiz and chase the DC Expert badge: 7 out of 10 with three lives to spare. Read every explanation after each question, especially the ones you missed — that is where the learning happens.
If you are also learning the 50 states themselves, the free us states quiz map game is the perfect next step — D.C. and the territories are the bonus round after the states.