Forty-eight of the fifty states in the United States have one or more state songs, a type of regional anthem, which are selected by each state legislature as a symbol (or emblem) of that particular state. Well-known state songs include "Yankee Doodle", "You Are My Sunshine", "Rocky Top", and "Home on the Range". A number of others are popular standards, including "Oklahoma" (from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name), Hoagy Carmichael's "Georgia on My Mind", "Tennessee Waltz", "Missouri Waltz", and "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away". Many of the others are much less well-known, especially outside the state.
Some U.S. states have more than one official state song, and may refer to some of their official songs by other names; for example, Arkansas officially has two state songs, plus a state anthem and a state historical song. Tennessee has the most official state songs, with 14 (including an official bicentennial rap).
Two individuals, Stephen Foster and John Denver, have written or co-written state songs for two different states. Foster wrote the music and lyrics for "My Old Kentucky Home", adopted by Kentucky in 1928, and "Old Folks at Home" (better known as "Swanee Ribber" or "Suwannee River"), adopted by Florida in 1935. and co-wrote both lyrics and music for "Take Me Home, Country Roads", adopted by West Virginia in 2014 as one of four official state songs. Additionally, Woody Guthrie wrote or co-wrote two state folk songs – "Roll On, Columbia, Roll On" (Washington) and "Oklahoma Hills" (Oklahoma) – but they have separate status from the official state songs of both states.
New Mexico has two state songs in Spanish: "Así Es Nuevo México" is the official Spanish state song, while "New Mexico - Mi Lindo Nuevo Mexico" is the state bilingual song.
Iowa's "The Song of Iowa" uses the tune from the song "O Tannenbaum" as its melody. The same tune is used for "Maryland, My Maryland" which was Maryland's state song from 1939 to 2021.
Arizona has a song that was written specifically as a state anthem in 1915, as well as the 1981 country hit "Arizona", which it adopted as the alternate state anthem in 1982. A resolution to declare the song "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen as the state song passed the Assembly, but failed in the state Senate as the song's lyrics depict a desire to leave New Jersey.
Oklahoma's state "rock song" from 2009 to 2011 was "Do You Realize??" by The Flaming Lips, but the state legislature vote was not ratified. The move might have purportedly been due to offensive lyrics and a band member wearing of communist symbols on a shirt.
Maryland had a state song until 2021. "Maryland, My Maryland" was removed due to pro-Confederate language, but no replacement was established.
Virginia's previous state song, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny", adopted in 1940, was relegated to "state song emeritus" in 1997 and repealed entirely in 2026 due to language deemed racist by the Virginia General Assembly. In 2015, "Our Great Virginia" was made the new state song of Virginia.
In 2021, Louisiana made "You Are My Sunshine" their only official state song by removing the less-popular "Give Me Louisiana". "You Are My Sunshine" is so beloved by Louisiana residents that many of them, including state legislators, were unaware that a second official song existed prior to the proposed removal. "Southern Nights" was added at the same time as the removal, but given a new designation as a state cultural song.
State songs
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" style="width:15%;"| State
! scope="col" | State song
! scope="col" | Composer(s)
! scope="col" | Lyricist(s)
! scope="col" | Year adopted
|-
! scope="row" |
| "Alabama" || Edna Gockel Gussen||Julia S. Tutwiler || 1931
|-
! scope="row" |
| "Alaska's Flag" || Elinor Dusenbury || Marie Drake || 1955
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=2 |
| State song: "Arizona" || Rex Allen and Rex Allen, Jr. || Rex Allen and Rex Allen, Jr. || 1981
|-
| State anthem: "Arizona March Song" || Maurice Blumenthal || Margaret Rowe Clifford || 1919
|-
| "Arkansas (You Run Deep in Me)" || Wayland Holyfield || Wayland Holyfield || 1987
|-
| "Rocky Mountain High" || John Denver and Mike Taylor|| John Denver || 2007
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=4 |
| State song: "Yankee Doodle" || || || 1978
|-
| Second state song: "Beautiful Connecticut Waltz" || colspan="2" | Joseph Leggo || 2013
|-
! scope="row" |
| "Our Delaware" || Will M. S. Brown
| George Beswick Hynson
| 1925
|-
|Official poem: "I Am Florida" || Walter "Clyde" Orange || Allen Autry Sr. ||2013
|-
| State anthem: "Florida (Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky)"|| colspan="2" |Jan Hinton|| 2008
|-
! scope="row" |
| "Georgia on My Mind", sung by Ray Charles || Hoagy Carmichael || Stuart Gorrell || 1979
|-
! scope="row" |
| "Here We Have Idaho" || Sallie Hume Douglas || McKinley Helm and Albert J. Tompkins
| 1931
|-
! scope="row" |
| "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" || colspan="2" | Paul Dresser|| 1913
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=3 |
| "Home on the Range" || Daniel E. Kelley
| Brewster M. Higley
| 1947
|-
| Official state march: "The Kansas March" || || || 1935
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=4 |
| "You Are My Sunshine" || colspan="2" | Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell|| 1977|| Castro Carazo
|Sammie McKenzie and Lou Levoy|| 1952|| colspan="2" | Frances LeBeau|| 1990
|-
| State cultural song: "Southern Nights"|| colspan="2" | Allen Toussaint|| 2021
|-
| State folk song: "Massachusetts" || colspan="2" | Arlo Guthrie|| 1981
|-
| State ceremonial march: "The Road to Boston" || Unknown
| || 1985
|-
| State patriotic song: "Massachusetts (Because of You Our Land is Free)" || colspan="2" | Bernard Davidson || 1989
|-
| State glee club song: "The Great State of Massachusetts" || J. Earl Bley
| George A. Wells
| 1997
|-
| State polka: "Say Hello to Someone from Massachusetts" || colspan="2" | Lenny Gomulka|| 1998
|-
| State ode: "Ode to Massachusetts" || colspan="2" | Joseph Falzone
| 2000
|-
! scope="row" |
| An official state song: "My Michigan" || H. O'Reilly Clint || Giles Kavanaugh || 1937
|-
| "Go, Mississippi" || colspan="2" | William Houston Davis
| 1962
|-
| "One Mississippi" || colspan="2" | Steve Azar
| 2022
|-
! scope="row" |
| Official: "Beautiful Nebraska" || Jim Fras || Jim Fras and Guy Miller
| 1967
|-
! scope="row" |
| "Home Means Nevada" || || Bertha Rafetto
| 1933
|-
! scope="row" |
| None || N/A || N/A || N/A
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=5 |
| State song: "O Fair New Mexico" || colspan="2" | Elizabeth Garrett|| 1917
|-
| State hymn of remembrance: "Here Rests in Honored Glory" ||colspan=2 | Donald B. Miller || 2018
|-
! scope="row" |
| "The Old North State" || E.E. Randolph
| William Gaston
| 1927
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=2 |
| "Beautiful Ohio" || Mary Earl || Ballard MacDonald (1918)<br />Wilbert McBride (1989) || 1969
|-
| Rock song: "Hang On Sloopy" || colspan="2" | Wes Farrell and Bert Berns || 1985
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=5 |
| Official state song: "Oklahoma" || Richard Rodgers || Oscar Hammerstein II
| 1953
|-
| Official state waltz: "Oklahoma Wind" || || || 1982
|-
| Official state children's song: "Oklahoma, My Native Land" || Martha Kemm Barrett || || 1996
|-
| Official state gospel song: "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" || colspan="2" | Wallis Willis|| 2011
|-
! scope="row" |
| "Oregon, My Oregon" || Henry Bernard Murtagh || John Andrew Buchanan
| 1927
|-
! scope="row" |
| "Hail, South Dakota!"||DeeCort Hammitt || || 1943
|-
| "When It's Iris Time in Tennessee"|| Willa Waid Newman || || 1935
|-
| "I'll Leave My Heart in Tennessee" || colspan="2" | Dailey & Vincent || 2022
|-
| "Tennessee, Tennessee" || colspan="2" || Wayne Jerrolds || 2024
|-
|"Tennessee, In My Dreams" || colspan="2" |Makky Kaylor || 2024
|-
| Official Holiday Song: "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" || colspan="2" | Brenda Lee || 2024
|-
| "Tennessee" || colspan="2" | Drew Holcomb || 2026
|-
! scope="row" |
| "Texas, Our Texas"||William J. Marsh|| William J. Marsh and Gladys Yoakum Wright|| 1929
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=2 |
| State song: "Utah...This Is the Place"|| colspan="2" | Sam and Gary Francis || 2003
|-
| State hymn: "Utah, We Love Thee"<br />(state song from 1937 to 2003) || colspan="2" | Evan Stephens|| 2003
|-
! rowspan="2" scope="row" |
|Traditional state song: "Our Great Virginia" || Jim Papoulis (arranger), based on "Oh Shenandoah" || Mike Greenly || 2015
|-
| Unofficial state rock song: "Louie Louie" || Richard Berry ||Richard Berry ||unofficial
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=4 |
| Official state song: "The West Virginia Hills"||Henry Everett Engle || Ellen Ruddell King|| 1963
|-
| Official state song: "This Is My West Virginia"||Iris Bell ||Iris Bell || 1963
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=3 |
| State song: "On, Wisconsin!" || William T. Purdy || Charles D. Rosa and J. S. Hubbard || 1959
|-
| State waltz: "The Wisconsin Waltz" || Eddie Hansen || Eddie Hansen || 2001
|-
| State song: "Wyoming Where I Belong" || Annie & Amy Smith || Annie & Amy Smith || 2018
|}
Federal district songs
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|- "
! scope="col" style="width:15%;"| Federal district
! scope="col" | Song
! scope="col" | Composer(s)
! scope="col" | Lyricist(s)
! scope="col" | Year adopted
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=2 |
| Song: "Washington" || Jimmie Dodd || || 1951
|-
| March: "Our Nation's Capital" || Anthony A. Mitchell || || 1961