States I'd live in map maker
Pick the states you would actually live in, mark the ones you would not, and end up with a picture worth arguing about. This is the states I'd live in map: not a record of where you have been, but where you would move if you had to choose today.
Also known as: where i'd live map, where would you live map, states i would live in, where i would live in the us, states id live in.
Free. No account needed. Export a PNG.
The fifty states, by region
Most people answer this map a region at a time, so here it is grouped the way the census does.
Northeast (9)
Dense, expensive, four real seasons, and everything close together.
- Connecticut
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
- New Jersey
- New York
- Pennsylvania
Midwest (12)
Cheapest housing in the country, hard winters, and the flattest arguments about what counts as the Midwest.
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Michigan
- Ohio
- Wisconsin
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
South (16)
The biggest group, and the one people split hardest over: coastal, mountain and plains states all sit in it.
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Maryland
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- Alabama
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- Tennessee
- Arkansas
- Louisiana
- Oklahoma
- Texas
West (13)
Mountains, desert, coast and the two states that are nowhere near the rest of it.
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Idaho
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Mexico
- Utah
- Wyoming
- Alaska
- California
- Hawaii
- Oregon
- Washington
How to make a states I'd live in map
- Decide what the answer means. Would live tomorrow, would live for the right job, would never: three honest categories beat five vague ones, and the map is more fun to argue with when the middle option is narrow.
- Name the colours before you start. Write the legend entries first, because they are the joke and the argument both. "Only for the money" and "if I had to" carry a map further than "maybe" does.
- Work outward from the obvious. Fill the states you are sure about, then go back over the rest. Most people find the map decides itself once the two coasts and the state they grew up in are down.
- Post it and let people disagree. Export a PNG for a post, or publish it and share the link, which unfurls with the map as its preview image. Other people can open the same editor and make their own answer.
What you can do
- All 50 states, each one clickable.
- Your own legend wording, which is where most of the personality on this map lives.
- Two categories or five, in colours or patterns, whichever way you want to split the country.
- Washington DC can be switched on if you would live there, or left off if that is the answer.
- State codes printed on the map for anyone who cannot place a shape.
- Crop the exported picture to the lower 48 if Alaska and Hawaii are not in the running.
- Works on a phone, so the map can be made in the time it takes to reply to the thread.
- A full-size PNG at the end, with no watermark across the middle of your answer.
Make your own states I'd live in map
The group chat version
Everyone makes the same map and the differences do the talking. The legend wording is what makes each one funny, so keep it personal rather than neutral.
Actually thinking about moving
A serious version of the same map: shortlist, possible, ruled out. Seeing it filled in tends to expose that the shortlist was three states, not twelve.
Two people, one map
Make one map each and compare, or fill one together and see which states survive both opinions. This is a decent way to start the conversation without starting the argument.
Where the job could take you
Remote-friendly, would relocate for, would not move for anything. Useful before a recruiter asks, and it takes about two minutes to have an answer ready.
Ranked by one thing you care about
Weather, cost, mountains, distance from family, whether the coffee is good. Pick one axis, colour the map by it, and the honest map is usually funnier than the balanced one.
Other map makers
Common questions
Is this a quiz that tells me where to live?
No. It is a blank map and a legend you write yourself. Nothing is scored, nothing is recommended, and no data about you is used: you decide what each colour means and which states get it.
How many categories should I use?
Three works best: yes, maybe, never. Two makes a cleaner picture and five turns into a map nobody can read at a glance in a feed.
Can I make the same map for countries?
Yes, on the world map maker, which gives you every country instead of the fifty states. The setup is the same: your own legend, your own categories.
What is the difference between this and a visited-states map?
This map is about where you would go, so it is mostly places you have never been. A visited map is a record of where you have actually been, and there is a separate page for that.
Can other people fill in their own?
Yes. Publish yours and the page carries an opener into the same editor, so anyone who sees it can make their own version rather than arguing in the replies about yours.
What if I have never been to most of these states?
That is the point of this map. It is about where you would go, not where you have been, so answering on reputation, climate, cost and what your friends have told you is a legitimate way to fill it in.
Is Washington DC on the map?
It can be. DC is off by default because it is too small to click at map scale, and there is a switch that adds it as its own marker so it can take a colour like anywhere else.
Do I need to make an account?
No. The editor opens straight away and your map stays in this browser. An account only matters if you want your maps kept together on a profile page.