How do I guess the state?

Each day you get up to 8 clues about a mystery US state: population, income, tax burden, median age, education, density, crime rate, and region. Guess after each clue — you have 8 tries.

What do the colored feedback marks mean?

Green means your guessed state's value matches the target closely enough to be statistically indistinguishable (accounting for margin of error, where one exists). Yellow means close. Red means far off, in the direction of the arrow shown.

What are the badges next to some clues, like "🏆 Most populous state"?

Those flag when today's state is a genuine national extreme — #1 or dead last among all 50 states on that stat. It's a real fact, not a spoiler.

Does everyone get the same state each day?

Yes. Today's state is the same for every player worldwide, so you can compare scores without spoiling the answer.

Where does the data come from?

US Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-Year Estimates, plus Tax Foundation data (tax burden) and FBI Crime Data Explorer (crime rate). All figures are the most recent finalized estimates, not exact real-time counts.

Guess the State

8 clues, one mystery state, real government data — including tax burden and crime rate. Everyone gets the same puzzle each day.

How the 8 clues work

Each round unlocks one more real data point, in this order:

Round 1: Population
Round 2: Median household income
Round 3: State & local tax burden
Round 4: Median age
Round 5: Bachelor's degree or higher
Round 6: Population density
Round 7: Violent crime rate
Round 8: Region & borders

Frequently asked questions

How do I guess the state?: Each day you get up to 8 clues about a mystery US state: population, income, tax burden, median age, education, density, crime rate, and region. Guess after each clue — you have 8 tries.
What do the colored feedback marks mean?: Green means your guessed state's value matches the target closely enough to be statistically indistinguishable (accounting for margin of error, where one exists). Yellow means close. Red means far off, in the direction of the arrow shown.
What are the badges next to some clues, like "🏆 Most populous state"?: Those flag when today's state is a genuine national extreme — #1 or dead last among all 50 states on that stat. It's a real fact, not a spoiler.
Does everyone get the same state each day?: Yes. Today's state is the same for every player worldwide, so you can compare scores without spoiling the answer.
Where does the data come from?: US Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-Year Estimates, plus Tax Foundation data (tax burden) and FBI Crime Data Explorer (crime rate). All figures are the most recent finalized estimates, not exact real-time counts.

About the data

US Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-Year Estimates. Population, income, age, and education figures are 5-year survey estimates and carry a margin of error — feedback accounts for that instead of treating close estimates as definitively different. Tax burden (Tax Foundation) and crime rate (FBI Crime Data Explorer) are separate sources, not Census data.

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