What state is Springfield in?
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Running gagSpringfieldMatt Groening
The show has kept it vague since 1989 — and what Groening said is not what people repeat. Springfield's state is the most persistent running gag in The Simpsons: the show cuts lines off, hides maps and piles up contradictory clues. This feature gathers exactly how the gag works, the four-state joke from the movie, Matt Groening's actual statement about Springfield, Oregon — often misreported — and the acknowledged reason for the silence.
Thirty-five seasons, a feature film, and still no answer: Springfield's state is the best-kept secret on American television.
Here is the breakdown of a running gag the show has kept up since the very first episode.
Contents
A running gag, not an oversight
Springfield's geographical vagueness is not a writing oversight: it is a deliberate gag, kept up episode after episode.
The show has three techniques, which it alternates tirelessly: cutting off a line just before the state's name, hiding the map on screen at the last moment, and piling up contradictory clues from one episode to the next.
The result is a setting that behaves like any small American town — without ever being one of them.
Why Springfield?
The choice of name is anything but incidental: 34 American states have at least one place called Springfield. It is one of the most widespread place names in the country.
In other words, the show chose the most statistically ordinary town name in the United States. That is what lets every American viewer recognize something of home in Springfield.
🎒 With a Springfield in 34 states, you could drive a whole road trip without ever changing town names: our Simpsons backpacks carry your things from one stop to the next.
The four-state joke
The gag reaches its peak in the 2007 feature film. Ned Flanders lists Springfield's four bordering states: Ohio, Nevada, Maine and Kentucky.
The combination is geographically impossible: Nevada and Maine are at opposite ends of the country. The line is therefore not a clue, it is a refusal dressed up as an answer.
The fact that Ohio and Kentucky really do border each other — and each contain a Springfield — makes the joke even more devious.
🎬 In the 2007 movie, Ned Flanders lists Ohio, Nevada, Maine and Kentucky as Springfield's neighbors. A movie deserves its poster: on your bedroom wall, that's the job of our Simpsons posters.
What Matt Groening actually said
This is where most articles get it wrong. Matt Groening did say he named the town after Springfield, Oregon, the state where he grew up.
But he immediately added: "I've never said it was in Oregon." The nuance is essential — a source of inspiration for the name is not a location within the fiction.
The blog devotes a whole feature to misreported claims about the show: The Simpsons' predictions, myths and truths rests on exactly that kind of slippage.
Why the silence
The reason the creator gives is simple: he did not want to spoil the fun for viewers. As long as nothing is settled, everyone can take Springfield to be their own town.
👟 Matt Groening never settled the question, so that everyone could take Springfield to be their own town: yours is the one whose sidewalks you walk every day, and our Simpsons shoes make that trip with you.
It is also a considerable freedom in the writing. With no state, Springfield can have a coast, a mountain, a desert, a nuclear power plant and a port — without ever having to justify itself. The vagueness is not a flaw in the setting: it is its engine.
A town with no address
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Summary table
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Is the state ever revealed? | No, never, across thirty-five seasons |
| How many states have a Springfield? | 34 |
| The four states in the movie | Ohio, Nevada, Maine, Kentucky — an impossible combination |
| What Groening says | The town is named after Springfield, Oregon, but is not located there |
| Reason for the vagueness | So that everyone can recognize their own town in it |
FAQ
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Which state is Springfield in?The show has never revealed it. It is a running gag deliberately kept up since 1989.
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Is Springfield in Oregon?No. Matt Groening said he borrowed the name from Springfield, Oregon, but specified that he never said the town was located there.
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Which four states are named in the movie?Ohio, Nevada, Maine and Kentucky — a geographically impossible combination, and therefore a false answer.
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Why never say it?So that every viewer can recognize their own town in Springfield.
Conclusion
A name chosen for its ordinariness, maps systematically hidden and an official answer that is geographically impossible: Springfield's state will remain a deliberate blank. It is precisely that blank that let the town become everyone's.
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