The name of this state can be typed on one row of keys—and it's the only one that fits the bill. Can you guess which it is?
The Only State Name that Can Be Typed on One Row of Keys
Updated on Jun. 09, 2025
Think you know your U.S. state name trivia? Sure, you might be able to name which letter of the alphabet doesn’t appear in any state name. But that’s not the only quirky fact hiding in plain sight among the 50 states. Take, for instance, this brainteaser: What state can be typed on one row of keys?
Only one U.S. state fits the bill—and it’s probably not the one you’d expect. Ahead, we’ll reveal which state it is and why it’s such a rare typing trick.
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What state can be typed on one row of keys?
Out of all 50 states, only one can be typed using a single row of keys. Want to try to figure it out? Start typing and see which state name doesn’t require any row-hopping. Pro tip: Solving this trivia question is easier if you run through the state names alphabetically.
Did you guess the correct state? If you ran through the states alphabetically, it probably didn’t take you long to figure it out. The state is Alaska! Although Alaska has six letters, it uses only four distinct ones: a, l, s and k. That’s fewer than some shorter state names, like Texas, Maine and Idaho, each of which uses five different letters and spans at least two keyboard rows.
Even better? All four of Alaska’s letters are found on the middle row of keys.
Which other state names use the fewest letters?
Alaska isn’t the only state that contains just four letters—there are more of them than you’d expect! The full list includes:
- Iowa
- Utah
- Kansas
- Hawaii
- Alabama
- Indiana
- Tennessee
- Mississippi
Yes, the 11-letter-long Mississippi uses only four different letters—count ’em! But the letters in the states above are scattered across multiple keyboard rows. Even tiny Ohio, with only three letters, still spans two rows: o and i on top, h in the middle.
Now that you’ve cracked this unusual typing puzzle, you might appreciate how it fits among the many facts you never knew about the 50 states—turns out, there’s always something unexpected hidden in plain sight.
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