How do I play Censusle?

Each day you get up to 8 clues about a mystery US state: population, income, tax burden, median age, education, density, crime rate, and region. Guess the state after each clue — you have 8 tries.

What do the colored feedback marks mean?

Green means your guessed state's value matches the target closely enough to be statistically indistinguishable (accounting for margin of error, where one exists). Yellow means close. Red means far off, in the direction of the arrow shown.

What are the little badges next to some clues, like "🏆 Most populous state"?

Those flag when today's state is a genuine national extreme — #1 or dead last among all 50 states on that stat. It's a real fact, not a spoiler of which state it is.

Does everyone get the same state each day?

Yes. Today's state is the same for every player worldwide, so you can compare scores and share results without spoiling the answer.

Where does the data come from?

US Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-Year Estimates, plus Tax Foundation data for the tax burden clue and FBI Crime Data Explorer for the crime rate clue. All figures are the most recent finalized estimates, not exact real-time counts.

Censusle — Guess Today's State

Eight clues, one mystery state, real government data — including tax burden and crime rate. Everyone gets the same puzzle each day.

Play other Censusle games

US Map Quiz

Click the state we ask for

Higher or Lower

4 tiers of real Census data

Classic Mode

All 6 columns at once + endless mode

Tax Higher or Lower

Endless — chase your streak

State vs State

Head-to-head duel, any two states

How to play

Read the clue

Each round reveals one more real government data point.

Population: 3–6 million

Guess a state

Type a name, pick it from the list — 8 guesses total.

Type a state name…

Read distance & direction

See how close you were and which way to guess next.

Read the full strategy guide →

More ways to explore the data

US Map Quiz

Free-play — click any state.

Play

Population by City

Top 100 US cities, ranked.

See ranking

Higher or Lower

4 tiers of real Census data.

Play

Tax Burden Tier List

S-to-D ranking, argue in the comments.

See ranking

Frequently asked questions

How do I play Censusle?: Each day you get up to 8 clues about a mystery US state: population, income, tax burden, median age, education, density, crime rate, and region. Guess the state after each clue — you have 8 tries.
What do the colored feedback marks mean?: Green means your guessed state's value matches the target closely enough to be statistically indistinguishable (accounting for margin of error, where one exists). Yellow means close. Red means far off, in the direction of the arrow shown.
What are the little badges next to some clues, like "🏆 Most populous state"?: Those flag when today's state is a genuine national extreme — #1 or dead last among all 50 states on that stat. It's a real fact, not a spoiler of which state it is.
Does everyone get the same state each day?: Yes. Today's state is the same for every player worldwide, so you can compare scores and share results without spoiling the answer.
Where does the data come from?: US Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-Year Estimates, plus Tax Foundation data for the tax burden clue and FBI Crime Data Explorer for the crime rate clue. All figures are the most recent finalized estimates, not exact real-time counts.

About the data

US Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-Year Estimates. Population, income, age, and education figures are 5-year survey estimates and carry a margin of error — Censusle's clue feedback accounts for that instead of treating close estimates as definitively different. The tax burden clue comes from a separate source, Tax Foundation's annual state-local tax burden study (see the full tax ranking) — it's not Census data, and we don't pretend it is. The crime rate clue is annual violent crime data per 100,000 residents from the FBI's Crime Data Explorer, a third and separate source.