U.S. State Flags Ranked From Best to Worst

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Last updated: Thursday November 5th, 2020

I recently finished my state flags quiz. It took a lot of boring work to finish. So I rewarded myself by writing this fun article, ranking the state flags from best to worst.

Note: All rankings are completely subjective and arbitrary.

#1. New Mexico

Clean, simple, elegant, and instantly recognizable.

#2. Alaska

Each star on the flag represents one of Alaska's 8 citizens.

#3. Maryland

I have no idea what's going on with this flag but it somehow manages to be awesome.

#4. South Carolina

A simple and beautiful design from the Palmetto state.

#5. Oklahoma

A beautiful flag that represents Oklahoma's native American heritage.

#6. Arizona

Comrades unite! Together under our glorious emperor we will rule all nations!

#7. Colorado

#8 Mississippi

Much better than the flag it replaced.

#9. Wyoming

In addition to having by far the best license plate, Wyoming has a pretty solid state flag as well.

#10. Michigan

This flag's motto states "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you". An apt description of Detroit.

#11. California

This bear looks a little lethargic. In fairness its is a pretty honest depiction of bears.

#12. South Dakota

#13. Nevada

#14. Kansas

#15. New York

#16. Washington

#17. Vermont

#18. Wisconsin

#19. Montana

#20. Kentucky

Kentucky: The state where fur trappers and businessmen live in harmony

#21. Louisiana

#22. New Jersey

Inspired by the Headless Horseman, New Jersey's flag features a bodyless horse.

#23. Illinois

We have now arrived at the screamin' eagle contigent.

#24. Utah

#25. North Dakota

#26. Iowa

#27. New Hampshire

#28. Arkansas

#29. Indiana

Would be enhanced with a brighter shade of yellow

#30. Delaware

#31. Idaho

#32. Maine

#33. Minnesota

#34. Missouri

#35. North Carolina

#36. Nebraska

#37. Massachusetts

#38. Florida

#39. Virginia

I like the sentiment, but the choice of apparel seems strange. Also, what is that mysterious gray object?

#40. West Virginia

I can't decide if the yellow garland is shaped like sausages, macaroni noodles, or intestines.

#41. Tennessee

One of these stars is a third wheel.

#42. Texas

Blatantly plagiarized from Chile.

#43. Connecticut

This flag looks a little too English for my taste.

#44. Alabama

In the words of Lynyrd Skynyrd, "a simple kind of flag".

#45. Ohio

This impossible-to-fold flag has a seemingly random arrangement of stars.

#46. Oregon

Drop the Comic Sans. On the plus side, the back of the flag has a beaver on it.

#47. Rhode Island

Bold choice to go with the square-shaped flag. Also there appears to be a missing border.

#48. Pennsylvania

The classic matching colors of navy blue and black give this flag its visual appeal.

#49. Hawaii

The Union Jack is a cool flag. Putting the Union Jack on a state flag is not cool. Get your act together Hawaii.

#50. Georgia

Until 2001, the Georgia flag incorporated the flag of the Confederacy. But after public pressure, they changed it to use .... the battle flag of the Confederacy.

95 Comments

Level 59

Jun 17, 2016

Poor Hawai'i and Mississippi. The Confederacy makes battle flag as a canton really makes it look as if it were a state in the CSA (even though it doesn't exist). And I know Hawai'i was a British colony, but why do they continue having the Union Jack is beyond me. It makes it look like it is a British Overseas Territory, which it isn't. I personally like the bear on the Californian flag. It depicts a bear that is extinct (forgot its name and I am to lazy to go look right now).

+15

Level 59

Jun 17, 2016

Also (Warning: Rant incoming), I've always found annoying that nearly every state has their seal and their name in the flag. Were the producers of these flags lazy or what? A flag is suppose to be original, not the seal and the name of your state/country/province, ect. Imagine a country having it's name and seal on its flag (though some countries do have at least the seal, but not every single country and no country has their name on their flag, as far as I remember), that would be horrible and unoriginal. Also, Texas how dare you plagiarize Chile. It has also caused confusion in which the Chilean flag was used in a ballot instead of the Texan flag. Also, funny descriptions and cool list. I mostly agree with it

+10

Level 65

Jun 20, 2016

As a Texan, I don't believe Texas plagiarized Chile. I actually think it's a coincidence, and I'll tell you why. The first Texan flag, back when Texas was its own country, was approved by President Sam Houston in 1836, which showed a yellow five-pointed star in the middle of the flag with a light blue background. As you can tell, it was bad. However, this star would become the famous "Lone Star." The next flag was approved by President Lamar, which pushed the star to the left and pushed back the blue background to make room for a yellow stripe and a red stripe, in many Texans' opinions (including mine) representing peace over war (but I think it might've been to represent bravery, loyalty, and purity, or maybe it was to match the U.S.'s color scheme, for it wanted to become a state). However, the colors were not exactly the same as Chile's and still recognizable until the 1933 Flag Act which established blood red and azure blue, as well as the white star, making it close to Chile's.

Level 71

Jan 14, 2017

Hawai'i's flag looks like a mess, a shame considering it is meant to represent a beautiful state with a unique history. I have to say I personally think that the flags of Canadian provinces are better than most of these flags. Most Canadian provinces and territories at least do not include a coat of arms and the name of the province itself like most of the American ones do.

Level 28

Jun 5, 2021

Hawaii was not a British colony

Level 46

Dec 19, 2023

Well, the Union Jack on the Hawaiian flag is there for a reason. The UK at the time didn't take over the Hawaiians. They mostly helped them, so on the state flag, they wanted to commemorate that.

Level 70

Jun 20, 2016

I remember reading somewhere that Maryland flag is consisered the best flag in the world by vexillology associations.

Level 81

Jun 20, 2016

Virginia is so low because QM can't spot a sword and is a little homophobic I think.

+18

Level ∞

Jun 20, 2016

Mysterious gray object, kalbahamut.

Level 46

Jun 20, 2016

It's not drawn very well, but it's a sword. Specifically a "parazonium". Check Wikipedia for that.

Level 90

Aug 13, 2018

Touch

Level 90

Aug 13, 2018

I mean touche.

Level 53

Jul 21, 2020

It is a sword, but I agree that is should be ranked that low. Looks like someone just killed somebody with a hoe

Level 81

Nov 6, 2020

Have you ever killed someone with a hoe? It's not as easy as you'd think.

Level 65

Jun 20, 2016

Do flags like Texas, which is pretty appealing visually, really deserve to be so low while Georgia blatantly uses the old Confederate flag ("The Stars and Bars," not General Lee's battle flag of which many, many people are familiar with).

Also, I laughed when I saw that each star on Alaska's flag represents one of its eight citizens.

Level ∞

Jun 20, 2016

I didn't know that about Georgia's flag. With the new information, I lowered their rank from #30 to #49. Sorry, Georgia.

Level 59

Jun 20, 2016

One question, do you not like the Confederacy? It seems like you're very biased to flags containing something visual that contains the Confederacy flag and it's battle flag (or in short Mississippi and Georgia). If you want to know what every flag means you could watch this video

+12

Level ∞

Jun 20, 2016

Georgia is a great place. Certainly, there are many things they could put on their flag. To choose a symbol of their state's rebellion against the U.S. (a rebellion whose aims were in large part to preserve the institution of slavery) seems terrible. The flag has a certain visual appeal. I don't like what it stands for. Georgia can do better.

Level 81

Jun 20, 2016

Every year my family would drive to Florida. When it started to smell like a toilet we knew we were in Georgia.

+13

Level 51

May 9, 2017

Oh, kalbahamut, you must have misunderstood. We're insulting the flag of Georgia, not Georgia itself. Now quit being a jerk to the South.

Level 90

Aug 15, 2018

With all the modern re-re-re-re-re-re-reinventing of the Confederate flag, sorry, but it's still a very cool looking flag. General Lee in his tailored gray cavalry uniform with the Confederate flag just looks better in a painting against the Union blues and the Stars and Stripes. Maybe they were like the Third Reich years later: despotic fashionistas.

Level 63

Apr 2, 2020

Georgia can just put a Coca-Cola logo on their flag. Or Home Depot. Or Delta Airlines.

Level 53

Apr 13, 2021

@Gamer1162, I don't think anybody likes the confederacy...

Level 62

May 7, 2023

Lots do for dumb reasons

Level 73

Dec 20, 2023

I think you mixed up the battle flag (think Dukes of Hazzard or what we normally think of the confederate flag) with the official flag (what Georgia now has) in your comment on the Georgia flag.

Level 94

Jul 4, 2016

We moved to Arizona a few years ago and like the state's flag. However, until we read your interpretation, we didn't realize the deep significance of the design. Thank you, comrade, for setting us on the correct road.

Level 22

Jul 26, 2016

I have enough trouble drawing the Union Jack when I have to. Ukraine have it easy. But some of these states....

Level 48

Jan 13, 2017

I think they're cheese doodles.

Level 44

May 19, 2017

Happy to see my home state at #14.

Level 35

Jun 2, 2017

ikr

Level 35

Jun 2, 2017

How does the Maryland flag appeal to you? To me it looks like someone was forcing a child to draw something impossible.

Level 75

Sep 16, 2017

I don't understand how you can complain about the Union Jack on Hawaii's flag while lauding Maryland's flag. It's a beautiful flag, but IMO putting an English nobleman's symbols of heraldry on a state flag isn't cool either. You can't get much more English than the family crests of Lord Baltimore's Calvert and Crossland families, coats of arms which were granted to them by an English king.

Level 71

Apr 19, 2018

The problem is that the Union Jack is a globally accepted symbol of a British territory. It's confusing for people seeing the flag for the first time. No one is confused about the Maryland flag.

Level 32

Nov 16, 2017

Opinion based blog, and yeah. :P

Level 32

Nov 16, 2017

hey make a list of the states themselves ranked in order, ex 1. blah because blah blah blah etc

Level 59

Nov 19, 2020

That would offend almost every American on JetPunk, and there's a lot of Americans on JetPunk.

Level 71

Apr 19, 2018

After looking through the comments, it seems that only me and one other person are the only ones who have a distaste for Maryland's flag. I find this surprising because I hate pretty much everything about it. 1, Checkerboard patterns don't look good on a flag. 2, why are the checkerboards slanted? 3, the red and white things look like they belong on a playing card. 4, there is no border in between the four quadrants, creating an unpleasant transition when scanning from one quadrant to another. 5, don't use black and yellow together unless you're making Batman's flag. I understand that a lot of people find this flag beautiful, and it did, of course, make the #3 spot. It's just my opinion. Also, sad to see Rhode Island down towards the end. It's a great design, just needs a left border and better contrasting colors. There's nothing wrong with a square flag as far as I'm concerned.

Level 90

Aug 13, 2018

Rhode Island's flag looks like a homemade pennant hanging beside the broken screen door on a junky roadside knick knack tourist shop. The type where 2 people can't pass each other in between the weathered wood tables full of thoroughly unorganized crap that you dig down through and find more completely unrelated crap, unfolded clothes, broken pieces of all variety and someone's open bag of chips they didn't pay for. Welcome to Route 47 Pik 'N' Pak.

Level 90

Aug 13, 2018

This is a flashback. This is the very first link I followed to JetPunk.

Level 43

May 8, 2019

All hail the Republic of California! This flag is what made me think California was a country when I was 6-7.

Level 79

Oct 3, 2019

Ohio at least thought outside the box when it came to flags. Nebraska, Virginia, Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota, Idaho, New Hampshire, Utah, Kentucky, Vermont, Michigan, and New York, all put the state seal on a blue background; Missouri looks like Paraguay; Kansas, Wisconsin, and Montana are so boring they had to put the state name in big, bold letters on the flag; Indiana has a random assortment of stars; North Dakota's eagle looks like it is choking on the ribbon; West Virginia has macaroni on their flag; and North Carolina took Texas's flag and put some words on it. Alabama is underrated for the simplicity but style; Louisiana is underrated for use of a pelican; New Mexico, Alaska, and Maryland are all great.

Level 74

Jan 27, 2020

Arizona is the best

Level 64

May 6, 2020

r.i.p my home state

Level 70

Jul 12, 2020

Thank you Mississippi for finally removing one of the ugliest flags in existence

Level 76

Nov 5, 2020

Honestly the design of the old flag was good if not for the cultural connotations.

Level 77

Dec 5, 2022

For real. From a pure design standpoint, Mississippi would've ranked pretty high.

Level 71

Nov 5, 2020

I actually rather like this new flag for Mississippi! Don't have a lot to compliment the state on, but at least they have one thing I can appreciate now.

Level 14

Oct 28, 2021

The new flag is awful, completely boring and generic and unidentifiable from other flags. You only like it because of the flag it replaced.

Level 62

May 7, 2023

How so? Every other flag is a seal on blue.

Level 53

Jul 21, 2020

I would rather have Wyoming or Arizona in #1.

Level 75

Nov 5, 2020

I would like Wyoming more if the seal were not branded onto the bison.

Level 69

Sep 16, 2020

That's BS! The Texas flag is NOT a rip-off of Chile, and it actually looks clean, unlike all of those STUPID blue backgrounds with seal you put ahead of Texas!

Level 88

Nov 5, 2020

Any flag that's just blue with the state seal on ought to have automatically dropped to the bottom (with those that are just the state seal on a different colour background above, but only as they know there are non-blue colours). Even if Texas' flag is plagiarized, it's still a flag rather than a seal put on a bit of cloth, and so superior.

Level 79

Nov 5, 2020

I agree that it does look better than the blue flags with the state seal are worse than Texas. That does not, however, mean that Texas did not rip-off Chile's flag.

Level 80

Nov 5, 2020

The Georgian flag actually seems pretty cool.

+13

Level 91

Nov 5, 2020

Wow. Mississippi jumped from #50 all the way to #8. Way to go, Mississippi!

... Never expected I'd be saying that in my lifetime.

Level 14

Oct 28, 2021

The new flag of Mississippi sucks and you only like it because of the flag it replaced.

Level 62

May 7, 2023

You said this earlier. The old flag is literally Confederate. You wish to keep flying racist banners of a failed rebellion.

Level 85

Nov 5, 2020

When I see Arkansas I always think it could be a logo on a sauce bottle, probably some spicy one.

Level 75

Nov 5, 2020

I'd buy it

Level 75

Nov 5, 2020

In my opinion the worst flags are those of Massachusetts and Illinois because of their lack of contrast on white pages and to a bright sky. I actually really like the flag of Tennessee because the stars are ordered in this weird way.

Level 75

Nov 5, 2020

The horse's head on New Jersey's flag was a design offer from Vito Corleone. New Jersey couldn't resist.

Level 75

Nov 5, 2020

Aw come on, you gotta give Georgia credit for defacing the battle flag with this weird building and the gamechanging phrase "In God We Trust". That makes it much better. In fact I can't even recognise that it used to be the battle flag.

Level 88

Nov 5, 2020

I'm surprised you didn't go with the joke that, here in New Jersey, if you're not careful, the horse's head could end up in your bed.

Level 75

Nov 5, 2020

Most of these flags have pretty much the same concept and design. Only the unique ones like New Mexico, Wyoming and California are the cool ones. Also Mississippi's got a lot better.

Level 79

Nov 5, 2020

New Mexico, Maryland, Alaska, Mississippi, and Ohio are the best flags. Ohio, Tennessee, and Hawaii get points for uniqueness. The states with the crest on a blue background are boring.

Level 14

Oct 28, 2021

Mississippi’s new flag is absolutely bad and generic. You literally only think it’s better because of the flag it replaced. If that previous flag never existed you would say that the new flag is bad as well.

Level 70

Nov 5, 2020

In my opinion, this is too state-centric.

Level 58

Nov 5, 2020

Low key annoyed that Ohio is so low on this - at least it's a unique design instead of another blue flag with a seal in the middle. Also I don't know why we're complaining about Texas having a design similar to the Chilean flag... half of Europe uses similar designs to one another so it's not exactly unprecedented.

Love the new Mississippi flag though.

Level 79

Nov 5, 2020

It seems like half of the states have flags that are so similar and mundane that they had to place the state name in big letters on it to let people know which state it belongs to. Also, Texas plagiarized Chile and North Carolina plagiarized Texas. Ohio is still underrated for being unique.

Level 14

Oct 28, 2021

The new Mississippi flag is garbage and generic literally I can’t tell it apart from flags like Kentucky and Pennsylvania the only reason why you even like the Mississippi flag is because of the flag it replaced. If that previous flag never existed you would say that it was bad as well. You probably think the current flag of South Africa is a good flag as well simply because of the flag it replaced even though that flag predated Apartheid by 20 years

Level 68

Jan 5, 2023

If you can't tell Mississippi's flag apart from Pennsylvania, you might have to change your contrast settings.

Select the Start button, and then select Settings > Accessibility > Contrast themes. To turn on contrast themes, select the theme you want from the Contrast themes drop-down menu, and then select the Apply button. Windows may display a “Please wait” screen for a few seconds, after which the colors on the screen change.

Level 53

Nov 20, 2020

I don't really like Mississippi's new flag.

Level 53

Nov 20, 2020

Ohio and Tennessee's are much better.

Level 53

Dec 3, 2020

Ohio has 17 stars because it was the 17th state I think.

Level 51

Dec 16, 2020

oof for people from the state of Georgia i'm from Maryland glad we got 3 place but why does no one know what's going on around and about in the flag it's clearly a sign of uniqueness ;)

Level 47

Feb 3, 2021

What's wrong with Alabama's flag? I personally like the simplicity of it.

Level 67

Apr 9, 2021

It uses the confederate battle flag, which definitely has negative connotations.

Level 14

Oct 28, 2021

It literally doesn’t though. The flag it’s based on is the Cross of Burgundy which was the flag of the Spanish Empire that controlled Florida and a part of Alabama at one point. Nothing about the flag references the Confederacy.

Level 64

Mar 21, 2021

I think Rhode Island is missing the border to look like it is "attached" to the flagpole

Level 51

Apr 10, 2021

You seem to have made a mistake in the Georgia review. It originally had the battle flag, and it now has the national flag, not the other way around.

Level 49

May 18, 2021

Maryland's flag is complicated as hell. Also, that was the flag of the Kingdom of Hawaii used to establish good diplomatic relations with the UK and the USA before the latter oh so kindly annexed it. Knowing this helps you appreciate how insensitive the "get your act together" comment is.

Level 66

Jul 29, 2021

There's a Mitsubishi in Tennessee Flag

Level 14

Oct 28, 2021

You can tell that the creator of this article has political biases and other biases simply by how he ranks the flags. Mississippi’s new flag is absolutely horrible and completely generic, and can be easily confused with Kentucky’s flag or Virginia’s flag or many other flags, but because of the flag it replaced he ranked it high, and Ohio’s flag ranked low all because “it needs to be folded a lot”. You can also tell that he’s historically illiterate because he didn’t even know what the actual Confederate flag was until someone told him. I find it ironic though because he probably would rank South Africa and Zimbabwe’s flags high on national flags lists simply because “they’re unique and the flags they replaced” even though they have heavy political symbols in it.

Level 43

Dec 8, 2022

How in the hell can Mississippi's flag be confused with Kentucky's or Virginia's?

Level 68

Jan 5, 2023

A survey by the Youtuber "Vexillographer" created a survey named "VADFOES" where every flag would be rated out of 5. In the United States, New Mexico ranked first with 4.364 points, Mississippi ranked 11th with 3.562 points, and Wisconsin ranked last with 0.513 points. Full results here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IRW-MK-vFHgba5lp1H_JVyKSJPYnzwAgeixD4Xh3wEQ/edit#gid=0

Overall, considering flags like Idaho's and Wisconsin's are extremely generic and rank last on most US state flag quizzes, Mississippi's is one of the better ones.

Level 47

Apr 29, 2024

Nahhh i like the new missisippi flag

Level 74

Apr 29, 2023

Buff ideas:

Oregon: remove the front

Nevada: use white for snowfall and yellow for the desert

Montana: use a mountain

Wyoming: remove the seal

Nebraska: use a cornhusker

Oklahoma: remove the name