U.S. State Shapes Trivia

Some U.S. states look like nothing at all — just a box with straight lines on a map. Others look like mittens, hatchets, or pots with handles. This quiz is about the states whose outlines are so odd or so recognizable that they've earned their own nicknames, described here in words instead of pictures.

If you've ever traced a state's border with your finger on a map, this one's for you.

Panhandles: America's Favorite Geographic Quirk

Few features shape a state's silhouette more than a panhandle — a narrow strip of land jutting out from the main body. Oklahoma's panhandle gives it the look of a pot with a long handle. Texas has one of its own in the northwest. West Virginia's panhandle pokes eastward between Maryland and Virginia, and Nebraska's sits in the southwest corner, contributing to a shape sometimes compared to a hatchet.

States Defined by Water

Water carves state borders just as often as surveyors do. Florida is essentially one long peninsula separating two bodies of water, Louisiana's southern edge is a ragged, marshy delta, and Maryland's outline is so thoroughly chopped up by a large bay that it's practically two different landmasses connected by bridges and land bridges.

The One-of-a-Kind Shapes

A few states don't fit into any tidy category. Michigan is really two peninsulas shaped like a mitten and a floating puzzle piece, while Hawaii skips the mainland shape question entirely — it's nothing but islands, start to finish.