How to pronounce all 50 US state capitals

Most state capital names look phonetic on paper and are not. Boise is BOY-see, never BOY-zee. Pierre is PEER, one syllable, not the French pee-AIR. Half a dozen capitals borrow from French, Spanish, Latin or Native American languages, and the local pronunciation has often drifted far from the original. This guide walks through the ones that trip people up, then lists a phonetic version of all 50 in alphabetical order.

The ten capitals people get wrong most often

These are the names that give newscasters, quiz players and tourists the most trouble. Getting the local pronunciation right is often the fastest way to signal that you actually live in the state.

• Boise, Idaho — BOY-see. The soft 's' is non-negotiable. The name traces to French trappers who called the tree-lined river "les bois," meaning "the woods."
• Pierre, South Dakota — PEER. Rhymes with "ear." Named for fur trader Pierre Chouteau Jr., but the anglicized pronunciation locked in when the town became the capital in 1889.
• Montpelier, Vermont — mont-PEEL-yer. No French nasal. Named after Montpellier in southern France as thanks for French aid during the Revolution. With roughly 8,000 residents, it is the smallest state capital in the country.
• Concord, New Hampshire — CONK-erd, not CON-cord like the supersonic jet. The second syllable is almost swallowed.
• Frankfort, Kentucky — FRANK-fert, not Frankfurt (the German city). Local legend traces the name to a pioneer named Stephen Frank who was killed at a river crossing, which then became "Frank's ford."
• Baton Rouge, Louisiana — BAT-un ROOZH. "Rouge" rhymes with "luge." French for "red stick," recorded by explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville in 1699 after seeing a red cypress pole marking a tribal boundary.
• Des Moines, Iowa — duh-MOYN. The 's' at the end of both words is silent, following French convention. Named for the Des Moines River.
• Juneau, Alaska — JOO-noh. Two syllables. Named for gold prospector Joe Juneau, who struck it rich in 1880.
• Cheyenne, Wyoming — shy-ANN. The initial "Ch" is a "sh" sound. Named for the Cheyenne people.
• Tallahassee, Florida — tal-uh-HASS-ee. Four syllables, stress on the third. From a Muscogee (Creek) word meaning "old fields" or "old town."

Capitals with non-English origins

Nine state capitals come from French, Spanish or Native American names. The pronunciation almost always got anglicized once the town anchored a state government, which is why "Pierre" rhymes with "ear" and "Des Moines" ends in an "n" sound. A few capitals still hold onto their original phonetics.

• Santa Fe, New Mexico (Spanish) — SAN-tuh FAY. Founded around 1610, it is the oldest state capital in the US. The Spanish "Fe" (faith) is kept mostly intact.
• Sacramento, California (Spanish) — sak-ruh-MEN-toh. Named for the Sacramento River, itself named for the Blessed Sacrament by Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga in 1808.
• Baton Rouge, Louisiana (French) — BAT-un ROOZH. Kept the French vowel in "rouge" but flattened the rest.
• Des Moines, Iowa (French) — duh-MOYN. From "Rivière des Moines," possibly a French corruption of an Algonquian word.
• Montpelier, Vermont (French) — mont-PEEL-yer. Fully anglicized.
• Boise, Idaho (French) — BOY-see. Anglicized long before statehood.
• Pierre, South Dakota (French) — PEER. Fully anglicized.
• Tallahassee, Florida (Muscogee) — tal-uh-HASS-ee.
• Topeka, Kansas (Kansa/Osage) — tuh-PEE-kuh. Believed to mean "a good place to dig potatoes," a reference to the wild prairie potato harvested along the Kansas River.
• Cheyenne, Wyoming (from a French rendering of a Sioux name) — shy-ANN.
• Honolulu, Hawaii (Hawaiian) — hoh-noh-LOO-loo. Means "sheltered harbor" in Hawaiian.
• Juneau, Alaska (from a French Canadian surname) — JOO-noh.

The full phonetic list of all 50 capitals

Alphabetical by state. Stressed syllables are in CAPS. Where the natural pronunciation is obvious (Atlanta, Boston, Denver), no phonetic is given.

State	Capital	Pronunciation
Alabama	Montgomery	mont-GUM-er-ee
Alaska	Juneau	JOO-noh
Arizona	Phoenix	FEE-nix
Arkansas	Little Rock	as spelled
California	Sacramento	sak-ruh-MEN-toh
Colorado	Denver	DEN-ver
Connecticut	Hartford	HART-ferd
Delaware	Dover	DOH-ver
Florida	Tallahassee	tal-uh-HASS-ee
Georgia	Atlanta	at-LAN-tuh
Hawaii	Honolulu	hoh-noh-LOO-loo
Idaho	Boise	BOY-see
Illinois	Springfield	as spelled
Indiana	Indianapolis	in-dee-uh-NAP-uh-lis
Iowa	Des Moines	duh-MOYN
Kansas	Topeka	tuh-PEE-kuh
Kentucky	Frankfort	FRANK-fert
Louisiana	Baton Rouge	BAT-un ROOZH
Maine	Augusta	aw-GUS-tuh
Maryland	Annapolis	uh-NAP-uh-lis
Massachusetts	Boston	BOSS-tun
Michigan	Lansing	LAN-sing
Minnesota	Saint Paul	as spelled
Mississippi	Jackson	JACK-sun
Missouri	Jefferson City	as spelled
Montana	Helena	HELL-uh-nuh (stress on first)
Nebraska	Lincoln	LINK-un
Nevada	Carson City	as spelled
New Hampshire	Concord	CONK-erd
New Jersey	Trenton	TREN-tun
New Mexico	Santa Fe	SAN-tuh FAY
New York	Albany	AWL-buh-nee
North Carolina	Raleigh	RAW-lee
North Dakota	Bismarck	BIZ-mark
Ohio	Columbus	kuh-LUM-bus
Oklahoma	Oklahoma City	oh-kluh-HOH-muh
Oregon	Salem	SAY-lum
Pennsylvania	Harrisburg	HAIR-is-burg
Rhode Island	Providence	PROV-i-dens
South Carolina	Columbia	kuh-LUM-bee-uh
South Dakota	Pierre	PEER
Tennessee	Nashville	NASH-vil
Texas	Austin	AW-stin
Utah	Salt Lake City	as spelled
Vermont	Montpelier	mont-PEEL-yer
Virginia	Richmond	RICH-mund
Washington	Olympia	oh-LIM-pee-uh
West Virginia	Charleston	CHARLZ-tun
Wisconsin	Madison	MAD-uh-sun
Wyoming	Cheyenne	shy-ANN

Two capitals with the same name and different pronunciations

South Carolina's Columbia and Ohio's Columbus both come from the same source (Christopher Columbus), but the endings differ. Columbia gets a soft "-bee-uh" ending (kuh-LUM-bee-uh). Columbus takes a hard "-bus" (kuh-LUM-bus). Charleston is another shared name: it is the capital of West Virginia, but there is also a famous Charleston in South Carolina (which is not a capital). Both are pronounced the same way, CHARLZ-tun. Springfield in Illinois is also unusual as a capital because there are 34 other Springfields in the United States, more than any other place name.

A final trap: Helena, Montana is HELL-uh-nuh with the stress on the first syllable. Outsiders often say huh-LEE-nuh, which is how the name Helena is normally pronounced elsewhere. Locals will correct you.

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