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U.S. Cities by Letter - U-Z

Use the clues to identify the correct U.S. city whose name begins with V, W, or Y.

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Answers only include incorporated places with a population of at least 100,000 as of 1 July 2022 (based on U.S. Census Bureau estimates).
One of the incorporated places is a township, not a city.
Quiz by arjaygee
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Last updated: May 25, 2024
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First submittedSeptember 21, 2023
Times taken33
Average score65.2%
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Clue
First
Letter
Answer
The 23rd most populous city in the U.S. is its capital, lying in a constitutionally mandated federal district that is not part of any state.
W
Washington
This resort city is Virginia’s most populous city and the host of the East Coast Surfing Championships.
V
Virginia Beach
The most populous city in Kansas is an aircraft production hub that grew out of a cow town.
W
Wichita
The hyphenated name of North Carolina’s fifth most populous city is the result of merging two towns and incorporating them as a single city. Each of the towns shared their name with a different cigarette brand.
W
Winston-Salem
New York’s third most populous city lies north of the Bronx. It was named for Adriaen Cornelissen van der Donck, the patroon of Colendonck, who was known locally as Jonkheer, a Dutch honorific meaning “young gentleman.”
Y
Yonkers
The second largest city in Massachusetts was a hotbed of revolutionary activism in the 1770s and a hub of industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is named after a city in England.
W
Worcester
Washington’s fourth largest city has the same name as a British Columbia city about 300 miles north.
V
Vancouver
Two soft drinks were invented in the 22nd most populous city of Texas: Dr. Pepper in 1885 and Big Red in 1937. In 1993, this city was the site of a deadly battle between federal agents and David Koresh’s Branch Dravidians.
W
Waco
One of the first non-indigenous settlers in the area of what is now the 42nd most populous city in California was Nathaniel Vise. This city is named for his hometown in Kentucky. To approximate the pronunciation of its name, combine the following.
1. A word that means “a metal tool with movable jaws that are used to hold an object firmly in place while work is done on it, typically attached to a workbench.”
2. A word that means “every day” minus its first letter.
3. The indefinite article.
V
Visalia
In 1901, the U.S. Post Office Department added “ville” to the end of this California city’s name to distinguish it from an identically named town in Colorado. The city is named after the General Manager of the California Southern Railroad, who shares a name with author Hugo who wrote The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables.
V
Victorville
The third largest city in Michigan and the largest suburb of Detroit. The city is named for a War of 1812 veteran and frontier cleric whose surname was the given name of the 29th President of the United States.
W
Warren
The second largest city in Utah incorporated in 1980, combining the fast-growing communities of Granger, Hunter, Chesterfield, and Redwood. Its name consists of words with the following definitions.
1. The direction toward the point of the horizon where the sun sets at the equinoxes, on the left-hand side of a person facing north.
2. A low area of land between hills or mountains.
3. A large town.
W
West Valley City
Clue
First
Letter
Answer
Founded in 1851 on the Rancho Suscol, this city was named after its founder and served as the capital of California from 1852-1853. You can approximate its pronunciation (but not its spelling) by combining the following.
1. The first syllable of a word that means “the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.”
2. A word meaning “put down, especially gently or carefully.”
3. A word that refers to “a long-handled gardening tool with a thin metal blade, used mainly for weeding and breaking up soil.”
V
Vallejo
The first incorporated community in Dade County, Florida has a name that consists of a cardinal direction followed by the name of the city to its east. To discover the name of the neighboring city, combine the following.
1. A word that means “an unbranched evergreen tree with a crown of long feathered or fan-shaped leaves, and typically having old leaf scars forming a regular pattern on the trunk.”
2. A word meaning “a strip of land covered with sand, pebbles, or small stones at the edge of a body of water.”
W
West Palm Beach
Located between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean, this city is North Carolina’s eighth most populous. It is the home of EUE/Screen Gems Studios and shares its name with Delaware’s largest city.
W
Wilmington
The name of the third most populous city in Utah begins with a cardinal direction and ends with the name of a river mentioned in the New Testament.
W
West Jordan
The fifth largest city in Connecticut was noted for its manufacture of brassware and timepieces. Its name is a reference to the many nearby streams that emptied into the Naugatuck River.
W
Waterbury
The area that would eventually become Colorado’s eighth most populous city received a population boost as a result of the discovery of gold and of the Homestead Act of 1862. The city shares its name with the area of London where the Houses of Parliament meet.
W
Westminster
A popular tourist destination, the official name of this California city is the Spanish name for St. Bonaventure. (But it’s better known by its nickname, which is the answer to this hint.)
V
Ventura
First settled by non-indigenous settlers in 1905, this city incorporated in 1923 to prevent its neighbor to the east (Covina, California) from building a sewage farm in the area.
W
West Covina
The oldest original township in New Jersey is a place where, beginning in 1982, you could have been fined and jailed for using a Sony Walkman (a cassette player, for you youngsters) in public, while riding a bike, while crossing the street, or while driving. The law was repealed in 2022 … and not a moment too soon! The township was named for a clergyman who settled in the area in 1664. His last name can be divided into two English words with the following meanings.
1. The hard fibrous material that forms the main substance of the trunk or branches of a tree or shrub, used for fuel or timber.
2. A structure carrying a road, path, railroad, or canal across a river, ravine, road, railroad, or other obstacle.
W
Woodbridge
The 38th most populous city in Texas was named after the river that runs through it, and after waterfalls that no longer do. About a century after the waterfalls were destroyed by a flood, the city constructed “restored falls” so as not to continue disappointing tourists. The name of the river sounds like it belongs in Kansas.
W
Wichita Falls
This California city is named for one of the two men who sold part of their Rancho los Putos to land developer William McDaniel in 1851. The seller’s name means “cow” in Spanish.
V
Vacaville
2 Comments
+1
Level 62
Sep 28, 2023
Enjoying this series; appreciate all the detail that goes into it.
+1
Level 68
Sep 28, 2023
Thank you for your kind words. These quizzes did indeed require quite a bit of effort to assemble. Sadly, I have run out of letters, so U-Z is the last of the series.