10 Best State Capitals in U.S. 

11. Richmond, VA 12. Oklahoma City 13. Phoenix, AZ 14. Indianapolis, IN 15. Providence, RI 16. Hartford, CT Annapolis, MD technically meets the criteria for this list but it's much more of a smaller town capitol that's in a large metro because of two completely different cities so I didn't want to include it. Hartford is the only awful big city capital.

As a Sacramentan, I appreciate your use of Hella lol 😂

When are you doing a top 50 license plate list?

I'm born and raised in Utah. Currently living in Sandy (about 20 minutes south of Salt Lake). It's hard to imagine a place better than SLC...fantastically nice and educated people, booming economy, endless outdoors activities, stunning scenery, low cost of living, geographically close to other great places, best skiing in the world, etc. I've also lived in Seattle, Portland, and San Diego. Every time I visit other places, I'm reminded of how superior Utah is. Oh, go Jazz!

I don't know why I always root for my home city / state when watching these things but I do. Go Salt Lake City! 😁🤞 EDIT - Woo we're #1 🎉

I live in the salt lake metro area, and it is pretty awesome. One unfortunate downside is a weather pattern called an inversion. The mountain valley traps cold air and pollution and we get weeks straight of pea-soup-thick smog with the worst air quality in the country. Interestingly, the ski resorts are above it and often have warmer temps than the valley during an inversion. Despite the inversions in the winter, I love the area. Sadly air quality has been an issue during wildfire season as well lately. The same valley traps smoke from California and we had some of the worst air quality in the nation for most of this last summer ☹️

As a resident, I was impressed you made Columbus seem so attractive without once mentioning OSU/buckeyes. Impressive. Love your channel and look forward to every post.

#1 Salt Lake City, Utah #50 Trenton, New Jersey

SLC has probably the best backdrop of nature of any capital. The mountains just majestically loom over the city. It's an amazing place. I had a blast on Antelope Island and being a cartoonist of Gulls well, there's no shortage of gull love in SLC.

You continue to impress with your thoroughness and presentation of "evidence" (and photos to match) for each set of lists you've given us. Thank you for being generous with your time and talent.

Glad you had Atlanta (my home) in there. Once you got to #5 and it wasn't named I was getting nervous!

I’m so proud of Denver for making a pretty big name for itself within the last decade. Growing up it never seemed like much of the US knew about us lol so I’m grateful to have it on this list.

As a resident of Salt Lake City, I have to say that I am very satisfied with this list.

I live in Boston, and I can affirm that you pronounced “Faneuil Hall” correctly.

Wow, as someone from Columbus, I would like to say thank you for pointing out some stuff that people overlook when they hear Ohio, great list!

No one: Geography King: Atlanta is very gay. Love the channel, would love to visit some of these cities!

I actually kinda like this bc it gave me a new perspective on Columbus and Salt Lake City

Born and raised in Salt Lake City, totally agree with you that there is an abundance of things to do. After moving away, I never realized how poppin slc actually was

Glad you put Columbus at that rank. Great city getting better everyday.

Wow, I can't believe how well you nailed this list. Very fair and interesting assessment. As someone from Austin, I think everything you said was spot on. I always warn people about the summer weather here because it really is a barrier -- I think it should be seen something on par with a winter in Minnesota in terms of how bad of that part of your year will be.

Atlanta really is a great city. Great food, music, diverse culture, and heart of America’s movie and TV industry.

After I get my degree I was thinking of moving to Salt Lake City. Great video, Kyle

Protect this man at all costs.

WOW, did not expect my city to make it to #1. I love it here, I can get into a canyon within 15 minutes from my house.. plenty of things to do nearby..

I've been waiting for this video for a long time.

The “hella worst” part of Sacramento is their basketball team! Kings gotta step it up lol

Great video, Kyle. It's nice to be entertained and educated at the same time.

from Australia and im into Canada/USA geography and found this channel and so I subbed

Raleigh is very underrated. So excited to see how it looks here in another decade.

Thanks for the video. I learned a few things while being thoroughly entertained. All your videos are great. I only wish I had more time on this planet to investigate and explore my own country.

This channel is hella cool! 😎

Even as an Angelino I'm hella stoked to see Sac on this list haha. Thanks for another interesting video! Always love the bits of fun you sneak in ;)

Really love your focus on specific tech sectors in all your videos!

I'm glad Boise still got a shoutout! Just moved cross country and it was by far one of my favorite cities to stop in for a bit

Great show, thanks, happy holidays.

as a raleigh resident, i’m very satisfied with this list. it’s very weird to see all those photos of places that are right by my house, as i live down town. i love raleigh because you can go into the bustling down town or you can go to some of the beautiful outdoor places and both are easily accessible. we also have some great museums downtown. glad to be included on the list :)

Wish you had mentioned Sacramento being your hometown before as I've heard you mention it in another video, and being from Stockton myself, I'm really glad I jumped on your channel as it seemed to start booming from around 11k subs in such a short time ago. I haven't stopped watching your stuff and you really seem like a guy I could have fun talking about anything over some driinks. Glad your hard work over the years is finally paying off cause you deserve it:)

Grew up in Columbus. I also graduated from Ohio State. I joke that it’s a boring city to live in. But in all seriousness, it’s a cool place to live in. And it will forever have a special place in my heart.

Another great vid! I love your channel!

This video was amazing! Thank you for pointing out the flaws of the wonderful city of Austin. I'm also glad my beloved Atlanta ranked as high as it did. Traffic is too bad though. I do have a soft spot for Columbus as well. Very underrated, but maybe we should keep it that way Lol. Salt Lake City looks amazing.

This Santana Album is a classic. Good choice👍🏾👍🏾

Thank you for such a positive presentation of Columbus! I was pleased and surprised when I saw it coming in at #3!

I swear you had under 20,000 subscribers when I found your channel just about a month or two ago. Now at nearly 60,000. Congrats on the success!

Great video! Thank you very much

I live just outside of St. Paul and I love it here. Glad to see it starting the list off strong!

Good set of livable cities. One of the things I love about this country is the varied environments and cultures of its urban areas.

Excellent list; all the cities on here were very deserving. Loved seeing Atlanta at 2! Been living here 5 years and it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Another great video Kyle. Love yor work😀

👍🏼 Great picks, Kyle! ⚾ I'd say a solid .750 batting average for this list! 😎

Boston: Yes, you pronounced Faneuil Hall correctly. In addition to the hi tech sector there is also a very large bio-medical sector but all of these are in thanks to the education sector. Many students go to Boston for school and just settle there permanently because of everything the city has to offer. (Note: Moderna a bio-medical company in the area will be in the news this week as it’s Covid vaccine is due to be approved.)

Ayeeeee I love Darby creek, we go there every week. Cool that it was mentioned. Great video!

As a Sacramento resident, I am pleasantly surprised it even made this list and not the worst list. If you're from here, you know how often we're either overlooked for SF and LA or talked down on for being a cow town. So any form of praise is strange lol

Great video once again, dude! I’ve been a fan for awhile, probably since 2k subs, and it’s been crazy to see your channel seemingly boom out of nowhere ! With that being said, I think it would be a good idea to start a Patreon! It doesn’t have to be much at all, but I think it’s a good idea to maybe grow your channel, while at the same time giving your dedicated fans a little something for their contributions. Idk, something to think about.

Hi! As an avid geography geek, I must say that I absolutely love your channel. What would could be better? Well... Can you please make an episode (or preferably) a series of episodes on American waterways? How far inland can one navigate? At which points does one have to switch from a sailboat to a skid to a canoe? What are the different (mostly) water routes one could take across the country? Where are the lowest locks? Where are the highest locks? Are there large sections with no locks at all? Thank you in advance!

I live in Columbus, in fact at 14:38 in this video when you talk about Scioto Mile, that picture is taken almost at my doorstep. I have an amazing view, but for me, the best part of Columbus is the Columbus Metro Park system. You mentioned Battelle Darby, that's one of them, but there are 17 others ranging from a few dozen acres to others well over 1000 acres. Only bad thing about Columbus is that from December to April, the weather is completely crappy. Every February I feel like I'd do anything to move away from Ohio. Not the fault of the city, just lots of grey and 20 to 30 degree weather.

it’s my birthday and geography king released a video, yes!

Great Video 👍

The first time I’ve heard the word “hella” and not been irritated. Thank you for your service.

Great video! Raleigh representing!

Yes! Lucky enough to live in Dublin Ohio (suburb of Columbus). Home of Muirfield golf course. 20 minuets from Columbus and every cool and beautiful thing it has to offer. I'm in the short north, brewery district, arena district, and german village a lot. My daughter is lucky enough to attend OSU, ranked one of the best college universities in the country. Go Bucks!!

Enjoyed this a lot. I made my own list of 5, and the only one of the five that you didn't list is Honolulu - a city I know nothing about, but I figure it is an awesome location.

Bostoner here, your descriptions of our city were spot on. Only thing I'd alter is Olmsted Park. Yes the parks were designed by the famous architect himself but the park is not colloquially called that by the locals. More commonly locals refer to the Boston Public Park and the Boston Commons and what you see on a map named Olmstead Park is just part of the banks of a stream starting from Fenway (yes the name of the famous ball park) all the way to Jamaica pond, its actually the inspiration behind the hit "Dirty Water" by the Standells

I've been to Denver its got to be on. Boston seemed fun too but was only there for an afternoon.

hello Geography king! I really enjoy your videos. I would like you to make a video on one of the most beautiful city in the world (according to several travel sites): Quebec City, Canada. This is my city and there is a lot of culture to learn and activities to do in a year. The city has a good metropolitan area of ​​800k + people and is very active economically and socially. It would be great to include the city in one of your videos and share it with everyone.

Hey Kyle! You should do a video on the cities with the best nightlife.

Salt Lake City has improved quite a bit in the past 20 years largely die to a vast improvement in its liquor laws. In 2002, some buddies and I went there to ski at Alta, and we stopped at THE state liquor store, and bought all 4 six packs of (warm) beer on the store's one shelf! You had to pay a $5 cover charge for a temporary membership at the few local "clubs" where booze was dispensed. It's much better now. But it does get smoggy AF during winter temperature inversions, and so I'd still drop it down below most other capitols on this list even though it probably has the best skiing access of any city in America.

1:46 - This is the Pioneer Building. My dad's cousins used to live in the penthouse and ran the tobacco shop in the lobby. My first job out of college was a CPA firm on the 14th floor. Years later when I moved to St. Paul, the building was converted into apartments. I looked at a studio that used to be my office.

Raleigh just approved a new development called “Downtown South” and it even plans for several 40 story buildings and a 20,000 seat soccer stadium. Development will cost $2.2 billion dollars and the Hurricanes also plan to get a new arena or renovate soon. The airport is a growing focus-city for Delta and after the pandemic, may become a hub for them. Today, 12/17/20, JetBlue Airlines is supposed to announce new routes including 7 new routes. 5 were just announced months ago and RDU could become a Focus-City for them as well. Apple has bought land through a partner at the research triangle park and is expected to develop.

10 - 0:55 9 - 2:35 8 - 4:18 7 - 5:50 6 - 7:15 5 - 8:52 4 - 10:25 3 - 12:54 2 - 15:02 Waffle House - 16:07 1 - 17:15

Columbus also has a very underrated (or completely unknown) pizza scene. Great place for those that love a good pizza 🤤

watched, subbed, liked, commented

My geography teacher would approve your channel👍😂

Love from Salt lake City which is great! Winters are cool with snow and near zero temperature but summer is hell on earth considering the elevation and how dry and sunny it is.

Ohio isn’t that bad. We complain but we still live here. Columbus is very underrated though. Also was surprised you didn’t mention the major medical industry we have here. You have several major hospitals and medical suppliers that rank best in the world. What we lost in manufacturing we gained in the medical field

Do a list of the best state mottos, please

If you're ever in COLUMBUS for the summer time, i recommend ALUM CREEK Beach !! Omg. Its a hidden gem

A Madisonian here so saddened! JK :) Great list!

I've lived in Atlanta for the last 26 years, so I guess I like it. Particularly the reasonable climate and a location that makes it easy to get to most places in the eastern U.S. either by plane or car. The cost of living has remained reasonable as well. The negatives are the horrible traffic and the relative lack of rail transit options, and the high crime rate in most places south of I-20.

A cool video would be dissecting the different types of cities in America, like the super-dense northeastern cities and then the urban sprawls out west. I'm from Boston and we're 700k but in only 50 sq miles (also while Boston proper is expensive, you only need to go a few miles outside the city (a dozen or so miles from downtown or literally across the Charles in Somerville) to find reasonable prices).

I have been to 8 of these cities and Boston is on my list for next year. Just need to get to Raleigh now.

St. Paul, Mn!!!!! My home town. Proud to see it made the list.

Having been born in Salt Lake City, and living in Provo/Utah County my entire adult life, SLC is EASILY the most underrated places in the US. Fun nightlife, incredible job growth, big city amenities with small town feels, access to major US interstates right in the city, outdoor recreation that is diverse and relatively close by, relatively cheap cost of living, generally kind and caring community, SLC itself is one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly places in the US surprisingly enough, and it's just a great place to live. Deserves #1 and I'm glad it's finally getting some recognition.

Salt Lake City being #1 makes me feel happy. Been there once for a 3-day vacation and loved it! Everything within reach and just relaxing.

I’m so happy that people realize that Atlanta is so great! I love it here!

Wow, I'm glad you like SLC so much. Caveat to your info about it, it doesn't get too hot or too cold NORMALLY. This year's been a bit weird with our summer days hitting 90+ every day and some peaking at 100+ degrees. We tied our hottest day recorded in SLC this year, so yeah under normal circumstances, it's nice. But SLC is also, like every other capital in the nation, a great central hub to get to everything. You want more glitz and class, Park City is just 30-45 minutes up Parley's Canyon. Bigger into agriculture? Morgan's 40 minutes away north. Wanna go to the National Parks? It's gonna be a 4 hour drive (roughly) or 1hr flight, but you'll land in our southern hub, St. George. Which then puts pretty much all of the state's National Parks an hour at most away. The joke we commonly share with Colorado is that we're a state you can downhill ski in the morning and be rock crawling and lake boating by the afternoon/evening.

I’m sorry that I’m late I didn’t get the notification even though there on lol

Excellent. SLC has world class skiing 30 mins outside of town. Denver, you must drive 2 hours each way. This really is big. You can hit the slopes or mt bike trails before an afternoon shift or class

You hear a lot about the summer heat in Sacramento, often getting up to 105, 108, or even 110, but two things really mitigate that. #1, it's a dry, oven-like heat. Humidity is very low in town, so you don't soak your clothes in sweat, unlike every single square inch of land east of the Mississippi. #2 is the confluence of two big rivers, the American and the Sacramento, and that creates a Delta Breeze at night, so the town cools off pretty well at night, usually into the high 50s or low 60s. It's only a few days during the summer that we keep the windows closed and run the AC at night. On the down side, the housing market here is getting insane. Urban sprawl from the Bay Area is affecting us, and home prices and rentals have gone through the roof. We have a two-BR, two-bath (plus an office) townhome in an eastern suburb which we bought in 2009 for $155k. One exactly like ours in our complex just sold for $340k.

It’s Boy-See, not Boy-Zee. Just a friendly FYI. Love your videos man!

Top 15 water cities. Countries with so much coastline or just water around them. I’ll start, madison Wisconsin.

I used to live in Raleigh NC. It was a lovely city. If I ever return to the USA I'll go back to Raleigh. You are right in the middle of NC so if you fancy a bit of beach or mountains it's not that far.

Glad to see St. Paul on this list. St. Paul is the overlooked twin in the Twin Cities and usually gets sidelined by Minneapolis for most people. St. Paul has incredible diversity and great food with the huge Southeast Asian and East African communities.

You should do medium and small cities in Canada, lots of people trying to move here as I did!

One thing you forgot to add about St. Paul is Summit Avenue...which has the longest and most intact stretch of Victorian architecture in North America. At different times, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Garrison Keillor and August Wilson lived on this street. It is one of the world's great streets that everyone should drive down.

I live in Sacramento and it's not bad. It's getting pretty expensive, but compared to San Francisco and San Jose which are 2/4 hours away respectively the cost of living and over all home cost is far lower, but increasing every year. There is a law here that prevents landlords from raising your rent more than 5% every 2 years so it helps, but the best places are impossible to get anyway and you can understand why people don't leave if they don't absolutely have to.

I worked in Columbus from 2009 to 2017, and lived in the northern suburbs. Housing prices have exploded in the nicer areas of Columbus/Upper Arlington/Worthington and the northern suburbs (Dublin, Powell, Lewis Center, Westerville). And pricing is even pushing further north into Delaware/Sunbury. And this was prior to the current real estate spike. Bought our home in Lewis Center in 2009 for $230k, sold in 2017 for $343k. Looking at listings now could probably list for $400k and get offers above that. Now I live in Raleigh suburbs and the same thing is happening here. I know some of it is the current market factors affecting most of the country, but it is beyond that due to population growth. My wife grew up in the area and we lived here in the early 2000’s, and it is completely different now in terms of growth.

I've lived in the Columbus metro area for a while. Most of the big money is the finance and health care sectors. Most of the large banks have major offices. Nationwide insurance owns a whole block downtown. Also AEP is headquartered here. Not so much in the city itself, but in the suburbs and xurbs that surround the city there is a lot of high tech manufacturing. Cbus also now has massive Amazon, Facebook, and Google datacenters. Tech has been moving in at an alarming rate over the past decade.

Glad to see Raleigh made it. My sister has made Denver her home for over 25 years but is moving to NC. She’s getting tired of the high cost of living and she makes a good salary.

Glad Nashville made the list, but I’m guessing the climate is partly what kept it out of the top spots. Muggy hot summers and some fairly cold winters. Worth it though for the music scene and beautiful area that changes with the seasons.

I feel that you glossed over Boston in many respects - in terms of the images shown (city skyline has drastically changed), the fact that it is the WORLD HUB for Biogen/Life Sciences, It has about 250,000+ students, many international students come here to attend the best business management schools in the nation (Harvard, MIT, Brandeis, Boston University) as well as music/arts (Emerson, NE Conservatory, Berklee School of Music) all world reknown and most located in the city of Boston.. Along with San Francisco, (lived there for 18 years) Boston is unique as a walkable European-style city with the largest number of Victorian Brownstones In the US. Historic beyond words from birthplace of Ben Franklin, Paul Revere, John Adams, Edgar Allan Poe, the Kennedys and so much more such as the first school and first public subway in the US. Boston Harbor has many islands and once the most polluted harbor in the nation, you can now swim in the Harbor and many parts of the Charles River as well. The Emerald Necklace of Parks was designed by the founder of American Landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmstead, who also designed Central Park in NYC, Niagra Falls Reservation, the master plan for the University of CA at Berkeley, and Stanford University to name a few.