I like to think that Springfield is a tiny city-state that periodically moves itself whenever it produces too much garbage, like in Trash of the Titans.

"And eventually the state Springfield was located in was revealed to be, oh... Let's say MO"

Don't forget. "West springfeild is 3 times the size of Texas"

The Simpsons live in the state of Confusion

Illinois does sound the most plausable and it does boarder a great lake, which is sort of a ocean for midwesterners.

I think as the years go on, Springfield kind of just changes locations. As many people know it was ORIGNALLY based on Oregon as Matt Groening was born here. This explains the ocean, valley, desert, mountains thing. We got the Pacific Ocean, the Willamette valley, two mountain ranges, and our eastern part of the state is a fair bit of desert. Although, as new writers get cycled in, the jokes change, and with that the idea of a different location. One fallacy I would like to point out though, is, when saying which states it can't be, the west coast should not be included here. There is a favorable chance that Lisa could be pointing to a west coast city, but between her height and Homer being in the way, she can only point at the general direction of the location rather than touch where it is on the map. However, I feel we would have at least seen her hand if it was the east coast cause Homer wouldn't be blocking her, plus she is far closer to the right side of Bart's head. At the end of the day, it's a joke, it has some roots but was promptly abandoned in favor of being mysterious and confusing viewers.

the answer is simple, my man Springfield isn't in America Springfield IS America woah dude

Also for Illinois, we have lake Michigan, which could easily be visually confused with an ocean.

In brazil world cup episode they meet people from springfield. Nelson says: We are from springfield. Skinner says: Springfield, Illinois!

By the way, the capital of Illinois is called Springfield, and it is in central Illinois, which can account for Lisa saying that its nowhere near Chicago when Homer points there.

Springfield is only a 15 minute drive away from where I live. So I'm going to say Springfield is in fact in the state Of Queensland in Australia. :P

The Springfield you missed is Oregon. Matt talks about it. The Simpson are loosely based off his family. The highway 105 runs through this state, as homer said in one episode. Also the area code in one episode is Oregon area. Matt grew up in Oregon and this was the base of his show which is actually Eugene Oregon. His Springfield 😉🥳 It also has a ocean, numerous lakes, and areas like the desert. He dropped numerous innuendo of other states to have fun and keep people guessing 🤯🤪😃🤭

Illinois is also touching a great lake. Who said those "oceans" really HAVE to be oceans?

Depending on what evidence you use, all the states could be eliminated. I personally think that Oregon or Illinois are the states with the most going for them, but there's really no state that all the boxes check off for.

I'm gonna have to go with Oregon on this one. Despite Groening claiming otherwise as you said in another comment, it makes the most sense. They live within driving distance of the desert, pine forests, mountains and the ocean (not a Great Lake, since it has whales and other creatures living in them.

Judging purely by vibes and intuition, I think it's pretty easy to rule out anywhere in the southeast or southwest. Springfield also doesn't feel very eastern seaboard or northeast to me. Culturally, it's definitely a midwest vibe, while geographically the pacific northwest and norcal make the most sense.

It's in a perfectly cromulent state.

Stop comparing this to Film Theory - this video was out first, and MatPat was clinging to the Oregon theory from the beginning. This theory is more fair, and I agree with the "every state" idea.

I literally live in the Illinois capital, Springfield Illinois. We all just kinda accept we live in Simpsons town.

WAIT,I just had a thought. What episode was the one where homer became a garbage man and drowned Springfield in trash? At the end of that episode,The moved the whole town to a new location. Could it be possible that they moved states in the process? If this is right,The question becomes 2-fold.Where was Springfield before it got buried?And where did they move to?

When you realize Nebraska hasn’t got one reference over 30 seasons

So Film Theory just did a video on this, and I wanted to go back to this video to see what it said, because I couldn't remember. It got a different answer because it excluded all "Jokes" about the location though, meaning the winning state was different. I'm curious as to if there's something _else_ that excludes it though, because often Matpat excludes information that disproves his theories in his videos.

Springfield is in Oregon since in season 13 there’s an episode where Homer uses medical marijuana. The time that the episode came out only a couple of states legalized medical marijuana only one of those states had a town called Springfield in it, you guessed it, Oregon.

I am like 99% sure that they specifically chose the name Springfield because there's many cities called Springfield all over the US so it's very common for the US and everyone can relate.

Why wouldn't you consider that Grampa Simpson will not recognize the very state he lives in as a true state?

How can you argue with the FACT that the narrator says, "for this NORTHERN KENTUCKY family," at the end of the Behind the Laughter episode?  Excellent video!!!!

Maybe Springfield is in the friends we made along the way.

Illinois, as there's a lake, just like Lake Springfield. But yes, it's meant to be relatable for every state.

No mention of West Springfield being three times the size of Texas in 'Half Decent Proposal'?

Well, there is a Springfield in most every state. Wisconsin actually has FIVE Springfield's to make the postal system an utter nightmare. In an early treehouse of horror, the one with the "clones of Homer," a map showing how Homer would multiple briefly showed multiple starting locations, which match many real world Springfield's.

There's tons of information in the first 10 seasons that point to it being Illinois Springfield is definitely in Illinois. Adalee Stevenson, calling capital city the windy apple, jazz been prevalent, the Mississippi, Lake Michigan being an Inland sea.

The secret is revealed in Season 8 episode 2: You Only Move Twice. Homer is offered a job by evil/friendly Hank Scorpio of Globex Corporation, and the family moves to Cypress Creek. While explaining the job/move offer to Marge early in the episode, he says "It's in Cypress Creek, upstate somewhere". When you say "upstate" it means its in the northern part of the state you're in. Later in the episode they pass through the redwood forests on their way to Cypress Creek as Lisa reads about the trees in a pamphlet. The redwoods are in california. This also easily explains how in some episodes they can drive some ways and be in a desert, and how they could drive to alaska. Parts of north-central california also have snowy winters.

but Oregon has Deserts, ocean and mountians and where are the mountains in Illinois?

The reason why I think it's in Oregon is because in one episode, when they are trying to get to Delaware, they cross the Mississippi river, and Oregon is the most plausible state in the west.

I agree with this theory since it ignores less things and it's easy to answer those that were "ignored": KBBNL (hope I got the name right) can be a clandestine radio, after all, I don't think a normal radio would feature the Bart Sucks song. The "northen Kentucky family" thing is impossible since in the episode where Marge writes a romance Marge has to tell Homer that Kentucky is a real place, I think if they lived there Marge would have said "We actually live in Kentucky". Maybe their family originated from there after going through the Canada/United States border, but I just think that's unlikely.

"It's a bit of a mystery, yes, but if you look at the clues you can figure it out" Lisa Simpson

Matt Groening revealed that the town of Springfield, Oregon, was the inspiration for the show's setting.

I have to go with Oregon. It checks most of the boxes, but mainly because there is a map shown in "Simpson Tide" that puts Springfield harbour in this state.

Kansas is actually mentioned in the Simpsons. Dr. Nick was selling something on an infomercial and he said, "Act now, and we'll throw in a free jello mould of the state of Kansas" whilst holding up a square pan...HUH-LARIOUS!!!!

This channel is amazing. So happy i just found it!

This video convinced me that the Simpsons live in Springfield, Illinois. Oregon is the obvious solution but it's way too predictable.

I've grown up in Illinois, so I always thought Springfield was in Illinois.

This is so cool thanks for putting in the time to make it!

It is Illinois because we get a crap ton of snow, it is hotter than heck in the summer, a city is called Springfield here, and in one episode Bart and Millhouse go to a town called Shelbyville, also an Illinois city.

It's not in New Jersey, that's for sure. There's nothing humorous in NJ.

"the simpsons is all the states combined so we can all feel connected" Aw.. I'm in the UK :(

I've lived in Illinois my whole life, I always thought they were talking about Springfield Illinois tbh, a lot of the water scenes could be lake Michigan, they would still get the snow but they're far enough South to be closer to the desert with not too far of a drive, there's nuclear power plants here (probably three eyed fish too) and I believe there's an episode in the earlier seasons where they drive to get a TV from a town named Oregon, and it was a few hundred miles, which would make sense from Springfield Illinois to Northern Illinois.

You forgot about Trash of the Titans, where the entire town is moved to a different location.

The answer is "North Takoma". The question is: where is North Takoma?

One aspect of the analysis you overlooked is their radio station of KBBL. Per the FCC, all stations west of the Mississippi river are required to have call letters starting with K, whereas those east of the river have to start with W. So they would have to be west of the Mississippi.

*Why am I not subscribed to you yet, this was excellent wuality.!*

In the monorail episode, Marge drives to North Haverbrook which, of course, implies that Springfield is within easy driving distance of there. Earlier in the episode, Lyle Lanley shows a map of the US which pinpoints North Haverbrook somewhere in South Dakota. Therefore, I'm inclined to believe Springfield is in Nebraska

I remember back when I was in middle school, there was a kid in my class who was a Simpsons expert, and he insisted that Springfield was in Kentucky because of an episode had Lisa say it was a beautiful Kentucky morning or something like that. I think he might have been referring to "Behind the Laughter" where the Simpsons are described as a northern Kentucky family, though the fact that this particular episode treats the Simpsons family as actors just muddies the legitimacy of that description... Honestly, I'm glad that they never confirmed what state the Simpsons live and and likely never will, there's so much more fun to be had keeping people guessing as to what it actually is.

Thanks for the vid, I like how you use OCRemixes, those are great

you could have elimiated everything east of the mississippi as all of their broadcast call letters start with K ("KBBL gimmie something stupid!") if they were east, it would start with W

What song is used in the opening?

In behind the laughter, they say that the family is from Kentucky (though this is highly likely just the writers joking around with us)

It's in Oregon. there's a town there called Springfield, and it's the creator's hometown. If you go to downtown Springfield Oregon, there's shops dedicated to the Simpsons because of this.

The research required to produce these videos is ridiculous. Kudos dude. Kudos.

I've always thought, especially with "evergreen terrace", Springfield was in the fictional but politically desired state of Jefferson/Pacific State- As in: Kind of Portland, Oregon, kind of in Washington (would also explain the family driving to Alaska) but that it's truly the ManBearPig of locations: Little bit of everything, little bit of nothing, completely fictional but real in our imagination insofar as we understand a cross-section town representing the overall WASP-y middle class suburban U.S. experience.

I recall an episode where there is a narrator that calls The Simpsons family "This Northern Kentucky Family"

Skinner says Springfield Elementary USED to be in Missouri in Lisa Gets An A. Also, the town could have moved states after Trash of The Titans.

In S11E22, Behind the Laughter, the announcer casually mentions they're a "Northern Kentucky family". I don't hear it brought up much, but maybe some people miss it because it's so casually mentioned... But that's always been my answer, surprised Jim missed it

Well, it can't be Illinois. The capitol of Illinois is Springfield, and it has been clarified on the show that the Simpsons' Springfield is not the capitol of their state.

It’s in Oregon because Matt Groening confirmed it

I've never thought about this before - but do the Simpson's characters not have a particular US accent? In the UK you could easily narrow down someone to within a particular region just by their accent.

I love the conclusion, it totally captures why the show connects with so many people

they did imply in one episode that they don't live in illinios when skinner says two men visiting their school are from springfeild and then specifies springfeild illinios

Groening has said it's based off his hometown of Portland, Oregon and thought he acknowledged that Springfield is in Oregon.

The "North Tacoma" thing is probably correct, if there even if any canon answer hidden away in a series bible then it's almost certainly "The Simpsons world is similar but still different and doesn't have the same states" That said I do like your outcome.

As an Oregonian myself I will always be a Springfield, Oregon truther. My sister was born in the IRL Springfield, for Jeebus' sake! Plus it's the only state with every major biome and is bordering an ocean.

You want to know what I love about the Simpson Mysteries? It's because of your screw the audience jokes at the very end. In this case it's "Or maybe it's just in Arkansas after all. I don't know." XD Keep up the good work.

I'm going with Arkansas as it's the only state left that could logically have a hurricane (Hurricane Neddy)

I only just realized that you're saying Illinois the right way. I never thought the Simpsons's Springfield was in my state, but I would have loved that as a kid. I always get confused between both Springfield and Archie's Riverdale - which one had campaigns to guess at the state location etc. There are other similarities there too. Riverdale often has ocean scenes, snowy winters, forests, cliffs, etc. It has a similar lack of real timeline/canon but the occasional series-wide change to the status quo (usually regarding a new character who sticks around, or a character detail that is officially changed).

It’s Oregon. Someone figured it out already based on taxes, geography, and radio stations. Also I don’t mean to be rude, you did an awesome video and I love your content.

Hey, I just realized one thing I don't think you covered. What about the radio station that Bart used to call all the time? KBBL. Radio stations west of the Mississippi start with K and radio stations east of the river start with W. Does that change your theory at all? Did you cover that and I missed it?

I'd go with the Illinois theory. I thought this when I watched it as a kid. The reason why I looked in detail at a map of the US and saw there is actually a Springfield in Illinois and a Shelby Ville next to it. Also in the episode where he meets his half brother they drive to Detroit Michigan, which is driving distance from Springfield Illinois.

I've just believed Springfield existed in a superposition where it exists at all states at the same time

In Portland Oregon there is a Quimby Ave, Lovejoy St, Terwiliger Curves, and NE Flanders st. Lovejoy being the name of one of the founders of Portland.

As a non-yank, this question was always interesting to me but unanswerable because I always regarded them as being in the most generic state possible, but how do you define which is the most generic american state? I think most people would say somewhere in the Midwest, but I don't know enough about the US to say for certain The argument that it's supposed to he "every state" is the one I prefer to go with, as it's supposed to relatable to all Americans and their life and location

7:03 IT CANT BE EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI, THEIR RADIO STATION STARTS WITH A K

Illinois has an “ocean” when you consider Lake Michigan, and it’s right alongside civil war hotbeds south and west making the civil war joke standout more as it included “and adjacent to” which Missouri and Kentucky both were plus the river is a key factor as it’s arguable that it’s the Mississippi River or one of the tributaries

For the next video, you should try to locate Danville from the Disney show Phineas and Ferb. Danville is a city in a tri-state area located in an unspecified state in America. Danville is located within a short driving distance of Mt. Rushmore and is also supposedly near an ocean. This "ocean"" could just be a large lake, though. Much like Springfield, many clues are given of its location, but they always contradict each other in very confusing ways. However, the strongest evidence is that Danville is located somewhere east of the Mississippi River, likely in the Midwest. This is because the Midwest has 5 states that are east of the Mississippi River and 4 of these are within a day's drive of Mt. Rushmore. These 4 states are Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin. All of these states are located on the shores of the Great Lakes and the large body of water shown in the series could be one of these lakes. Out of these four states, the shortest drive to Mt. Rushmore is Wisconsin. This is why I think Danville is located in Wisconsin, along with other reasons. The other reasons are that Wisconsin borders Lake Michigan, which could be the so-called "ocean" in the show and the state even has a tri-state area that is made up of southeastern Wisconsin, northeastern Illinois, and northwestern Indiana. This tri-state area could be the tri-state area in the show. Because of this, I personally believe Danville is located in Wisconsin, likely on the shore of Lake Michigan. However, I am still not 100% sure of this, so that's why I think you should locate it yourself in the next video.

I think Illinois because Springfield is the capital city of Illinois.

Matt Groening confirmed that Springfield is in Oregon.

It’s primarily in Oregon. It was confirmed by Matt Groening himself, since he’s from Portland, Oregon and it’s based quite a bit on the city and it’s neighboring cities. Though, the city of Springfield is also partially based on Springfield, Massachusetts, which is the hometown of Mike Sully, the shows writer, producer and show runner. Both states are near an ocean and it snows in both stages, but when one looks at the city with the landmarks and buildings the show bases the city in, Oregon fits the bill more than Massachusetts, due to the city being mostly based on Portland and the neighboring cities. The jokes that imply it’s in the middle of the country is part of the recurring joke that there are so many Springfields in America and that it can be set in Anywhere, USA.

Last year for my college acting class we all had to come up with characters for the other students to interview. One kid ending up doing a farmer from an indistinct Springfield. Naturally, I asked if it was the one from the Simpsons. He said yes of course.

I firmly believe it's Oregon. It touches an ocean (Astoria), it has Springfield (Next to Eugene), it has a desert (Walla Walla) and it has a lot of evergreen trees. Also doesn't hurt that Portland has all kinds of little references to the show...

Why is no one mentioning the "Behind the laughter" episode? In that episode, they say "this northern Kentucky family". There is a Springfield in Kentucky, but what's even more interesting is that there's a Shelbyville there as well, and Shelbyville, KY is very close to a city named Simpsonville. Maybe they took the name of a town that would exist in many different states, but decided the name of the family based on this place in Kentucky with a neighbouring town called Shelbyville. That's my best guess.

I’m personally in the Virginia camp, mainly because I distinctly remember Homer saying in the New York episode “it takes like 4 hours to get there”, I might be misremembering this but I swear he said it.

I like how you including later episodes and didn’t take the lazy way out like Matt Patt. But you did forget about the geography.

If you consider only the "canon" seasons (1-9), then the clues actually point pretty conclusively towards Oregon. This makes sense considering that it has tall mountains, a coastline, cold winters, and even a desert. Also, Matt Groening grew up there.

Matt Groening already confirmed, its his home state of Oregon.

I always thought Springfield was in a state of Denial due to all the sh*t Homer has pulled over the years and how few times he's been in prison.

How do you explain KBBL. The radio station. The K is geographical and rules out like half of the states

Springfield's totally in Quebec. For sure.

Matt Groening Told Us In An Interview that Springfield is next to where he grew up. Matt Groening grew up in Portland, Oregan.

In the Simpsons they mention Adalee Stevenson as being the state comptroller he was State Comptroller of Illinois. Plus Springfield is the capital of Illinois not to mention they call capital city the windy Applewood Chicago is the Windy City. And Lake Michigan is an inland sea.

Texas seems like a pretty accurate guess. Since west Texas is desert, east Texas is wooded, Houston is near the ocean, the panhandle is near the rocky mountains and has some snow, and Dallas has a lot of lakes, it could be in Texas.

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS!!!