US States Borders & Coasts Quiz
Which states border each other? Which coast is each state on? Learn all 50 states first, then prove it in the quiz.
Counting rule for every question: neighbours are land, river, lake or single-point borders. Canada and Mexico are not counted as neighbours.
Pick a level
Mixed rounds: borders, coasts, Canada & Mexico, neighbour counts, tricky pairs and records.
Learn the 50 States
Tap a card to flip it. Front: state name. Back: its neighbours, coast, Canada / Mexico and Great Lakes.
Quiz complete!
How it works
How It Works
This us states borders quiz gives you two ways to learn: study the borders first, or test yourself straight away.
Pick Play or Learn
Study the 50 flip cards first, or jump straight into a quiz.
Choose your level
Easy 15, Medium 30, or Hard 50 questions. Same rules at every level.
Answer borders, coasts and counts
Each round asks about neighbours, a coast, a neighbour count, Canada or Mexico, or a tricky pair. Pick from the options shown.
Check your score
The result screen shows your score and message. Play again or go back to Learn.
The method
How to Play the us states borders quiz
One state, one question, four options — and exactly one right answer, even when the counting rule is tricky.
Each round names a state and a question type: which states border it, what coast it is on, how many states border it, whether it borders Canada or Mexico, or whether two states share a border. Four options appear, and only one is right. You have 18 seconds per question and 3 lives. A right answer scores 10 points plus a time bonus, up to 20 per round. Hint removes two wrong options, Skip moves on, Next appears after every answer, and Back returns you to the level screen. Neighbours are counted as land, river, lake or single-point borders, and Canada and Mexico are never counted as neighbours.
Tennessee borders, worked example
Question: Which of these states borders Tennessee? Answer: Missouri — one of the 8 states that border Tennessee. Tennessee and Missouri border 8 states each, the most of any state, and they border each other across the Mississippi River. The same counting rule protects every round in the quiz.
Why choose us
Why Choose Us
Three reasons this us states borders quiz is built for real learning, not blind guessing.
Learn and Play in one place
Study the 50 flip cards, filter them by coast, Canada or Mexico, then test yourself without switching tools.
Honest levels
Easy 15, Medium 30, Hard 50. Same timer, lives, and scoring throughout.
Exactly one right answer
Distractors are never neighbours of the asked state, so a shared border can never make two answers right.
Full control
Back returns to levels, Next moves on when you are ready. Nothing auto-rushes you.
At a glance
Neighbour Counts Cheat Sheet
The fastest way to study: learn the extremes first, and the rest get easier.
Most neighbours
| States | Neighbours |
|---|---|
| Missouri, Tennessee | 8 each |
| Colorado, Kentucky | 7 each |
Fewest neighbours
| States | Neighbours |
|---|---|
| Maine | 1 — New Hampshire only |
| Alaska, Hawaii | 0 |
Two-coast states
| State | Coasts |
|---|---|
| Florida | Atlantic + Gulf of Mexico |
| New York | Atlantic + Great Lakes |
| Alaska | Pacific + Arctic |
The traps
Tricky Borders: Where Most Quizzes Go Wrong
Six wording traps, answered straight, so they never cost you a point.
Water borders still count here
Delaware–New Jersey, Illinois–Michigan, Michigan–Minnesota and New York–Rhode Island share water borders, and this quiz counts them. Land-only counts differ: Michigan 5 to 3, Rhode Island 3 to 2.
Four Corners is a real border
Colorado–Arizona and Utah–New Mexico meet at a single point, and this quiz counts them as neighbours.
Ohio and Pennsylvania touch Canada by lake only
Both meet Canada across Lake Erie and have no land crossing of their own. Count them as Canada-border states, but not as drivable crossings.
Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana do NOT border Canada
They have Great Lakes shores and Canadian trade, but no direct Canada border.
Great Lakes are not oceans
Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania have Great Lakes coasts but no ocean coast.
Pennsylvania has no Atlantic coast
Pennsylvania’s only coast is Lake Erie. The Delaware River estuary does not make it an Atlantic state.
Facts last verified November 2026.
International borders
Canada and Mexico Borders
13 states border Canada, west to east: Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Only 11 of them have a land crossing, because Ohio and Pennsylvania meet Canada across Lake Erie alone. 4 states border Mexico, west to east: California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Texas has the longest Mexico border of the four, and it is the only Mexico-border state that is also a Gulf state.
The numbers
Coasts Explained
The arithmetic: Atlantic 14 plus Pacific 5 plus Gulf 5 is 24 memberships, minus Florida counted twice, which gives 23 ocean states. Add the 7 states whose only coast is a Great Lake, and 30 states have some coast. That leaves 20 states with no coast at all, and 27 with no ocean coast. The two numbers answer different questions, so this page never uses either one without its definition.
By the lake
Great Lakes Guide
Eight states touch a Great Lake. Only one touches four of them.
States by Great Lake
| Lake | States |
|---|---|
| Superior | Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin |
| Michigan | Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin |
| Huron | Michigan |
| Erie | Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania |
| Ontario | New York only |
Michigan touches 4 Great Lakes, Wisconsin and New York touch 2 each, and Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania touch 1 each. Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake entirely inside the United States.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions About the us states borders quiz
Missouri and Tennessee, with 8 neighbours each — the most of any state.
13 states: Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Ohio and Pennsylvania meet Canada only across Lake Erie, with no land crossing of their own.
Michigan has a Great Lakes coast but no ocean coast, so under the standard ocean definition it counts as landlocked — lakes are not oceans.
Maine, which borders only New Hampshire — the fewest of any state in the lower 48. Alaska and Hawaii border no other US state at all.
20 states have no coast of any kind. 27 states have no ocean coast — the difference is the 7 states whose only coast is a Great Lake.
Ready to Play the us states borders quiz?
Study the cards, pick a level, and see how many of the 50 states you can match.
Keep playing: try the main map quiz, the flags quiz, or the symbols quiz next. Played them all? Head back to the us states quiz homepage for more quizzes.