question: why are most states’ capitals not their largest city?
comment: In many cases the capital was chosen to be as centrally located as possible, which explains Springfield, IL, and Jefferson City, MO. In other cases it was chosen to move development and economic activity from the coast to the state's relatively undeveloped interior; this was the case with Austin, TX. Sometimes the capital was chosen based on population patterns that are very different today; Tallahassee, FL, in the western Panhandle was chosen because at the time only a narrow strip of N. Florida was inhabited by Anglos.
passages:  Even though the urbanized area of Carson City is about from the California border, the larger Consolidated Municipality of Carson City does form part of the Nevada state border. Similarly, the City and Borough of Juneau extends eastward to British Columbia, although the urbanized area of Juneau is about from the Canada–US border.
  
  Section::::Further reading.
  
  BULLET::::- Christian Montes. "American Capitals: A Historical Geography" (University of Chicago Press; 2014) 394 pages; scholarly study of geographic and other factors that have shaped the designation of capitals in all 50 states
  
  Section::::External links.
  
  BULLET::::- Florida Facts - The Capitol
   List of capitals in the United States
  
  Washington, D.C. has been the federal capital city of the United States since 1802. Each U.S. state has its own capital city, as do many of its insular areas. Historically, most states have not changed their capital city since becoming a state, but the capital cities of their respective preceding colonies, territories, kingdoms, and republics typically changed multiple times. There have also been other governments within the current borders of the United States with their own capitals, such as the Republic of Texas, Native American nations, and other unrecognized governments.
   BULLET::::3. In many cases, capital cities of historical jurisdictions were outside of a state's present borders. (Those cities are generally indicated with the two-letter abbreviation for the U.S. state in which the former administrative capital is now located.)
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- List of largest cities of U.S. states and territories by population
  
  BULLET::::- History of the United States
  
  BULLET::::- Lists of capitals
  
  BULLET::::- List of U.S. colonial possessions
  
  BULLET::::- Outline of United States history
  
  BULLET::::- Political divisions of the United States
  
  BULLET::::- Territorial evolution of the United States
  
  BULLET::::- Timeline of country and capital changes
  
  Section::::Notes.
   BULLET::::- Richmond, May 29, 1861 – April 3, 1865
  
  Section::::Historical state, colonial, and territorial capitals.
  
  Most of the original Thirteen Colonies had their capitals occupied or attacked by the British during the American Revolutionary War. State governments operated where and as they could. The City of New York was occupied by British troops from 1776 to 1783. A similar situation occurred during the War of 1812, during the American Civil War in many Confederate states, and during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680–1692 in New Mexico.
   The Inland Empire region roughly corresponds to the area that might comprise such a State of Lincoln. The largest city would be Spokane, Washington, which is presently Washington's second largest and the greater Spokane area is the third largest population base in the northwestern US behind Seattle and Portland.
   BULLET::::- In Germany, several rural "Kreise" (districts of a state) have their capitals in larger nearby cities that have their own separate administration (they are urban "Kreise" of their own) and are not part of the usually homonymous rural "Kreis." Some examples are Karlsruhe, Offenbach, Kaiserslautern, Munich, Kassel, and Osnabrück, but there are many other cases.
  
  BULLET::::- Honiara, Solomon Islands – capital of Guadalcanal Province, while itself a separate capital territory
   City population and especially area are, however, heavily dependent on the definition of "urban area" used: densities are almost invariably higher for the central city area than when suburban settlements and the intervening rural areas are included, as in the areas of agglomeration or metropolitan area, the latter sometimes including neighboring cities. For instance, Milwaukee has a greater population density when just the inner city is measured, and the surrounding suburbs excluded.
   BULLET::::- Illinois: Springfield has the seats of the branches of government and serves as the official capital. However various Illinois government officials primarily reside in or are primarily active in Chicago. (see: for a further explanation)
  
  BULLET::::- Louisiana: The executive and legislative branches and most government agencies are based in Baton Rouge, but the Louisiana Supreme Court is located in New Orleans.
  
  BULLET::::- New York: Much like Illinois, the state capital and government are headquartered in Albany, but many officials are mostly active in or live in New York City.
   BULLET::::- Hot Springs, South Dakota, United States – seat of Fall River County, whose administration is under contract from neighbouring Oglala Lakota County to also perform the latter's administrative functions.
   Examples of well-known federal capitals include Washington, D.C., which is not part of any U.S. state but borders Maryland and Virginia; Berlin, which is a state of Germany in its own right and forms an enclave within the much larger state of Brandenburg; and the Australian Capital Territory, a territory of Australia which includes the capital city of Australia, Canberra.
  
  Section::::Examples of federal capitals.
  
  BULLET::::- Argentina: Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, formerly "Capital Federal"
  
  BULLET::::- Austria: Vienna
  
  BULLET::::- Australia: Canberra
  
  BULLET::::- Belgium: Brussels capital region
  
  BULLET::::- Bosnia and Herzegovina: Sarajevo
  
  BULLET::::- Brazil: Brasília
  
  BULLET::::- Canada: Ottawa
  
  BULLET::::- Comoros: Moroni
   BULLET::::- Thessalon, Ontario, Canada – seat of Cockburn Island township, itself a separate municipality on the mainland. Cockburn Island, in Lake Huron, has no longer any permanent population, yet it is still legally incorporated as a township of the province of Ontario, with the administrative offices located in Thessalon.
   BULLET::::- Washington, D.C., United States, founded as a compromise between more urbanized Northern states and agrarian Southern "slave states" to share national power. This is called the Compromise of 1790, resulting in the passage of the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River on land ceded from Maryland and Virginia.
  
  BULLET::::- Frankfort, Kentucky, midway between Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky.
   By 1800, the region included the only four U.S. cities with populations of over 25,000: Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and Boston. By 1850, New York and Philadelphia alone had over 300,000 residents, while Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn (at that time a separate city from New York), Cincinnati, and New Orleans had over 100,000: five were within one 400-mile strip, while the last two were each four hundred miles away from the next closest metropolis. The immense concentration of people in one relatively densely packed area gave that region considerable sway through population density over the rest of the nation, which was solidified in 1800 when Washington, D.C., only 38 miles southwest of Baltimore, was made the capital. According to Gottmann, capital cities "will tend to create for and around the seats of power a certain kind of built environment, singularly endowed, for instance, with monumentality, stressing status and ritual, a trait that will increase with duration." The transportation and telecommunications infrastructure that the capital city mandated also spilled over into the rest of the strip.
   BULLET::::2. A town that was chosen as a compromise among two or more cities (or other political divisions), none of which was willing to concede to the other(s) the privilege of being the capital city. Usually, the new capital is geographically located roughly equidistant between the competing population centres.
  
  Some examples of the second situation (compromise locations) include:
  
  BULLET::::- Canberra, Australia, chosen as a compromise located between Melbourne and Sydney.
   BULLET::::- California: Monterey (1849), San Jose (1849–1851), Vallejo (1851–1853), Benicia (1853–1854)
  
  BULLET::::- Connecticut: New Haven
  
  BULLET::::- Delaware: New Castle (colonial), Wilmington, Lewes, New Castle
  
  BULLET::::- Florida: St. Augustine (1565–1824)
  
  BULLET::::- Georgia: Savannah (colonial), Augusta (1780–1796), Louisville (1796–1806), Milledgeville (1804–1868) [While Milledgeville was declared capital in December, 1804, until facilities were built in Milledgeville the government remained in Louisville.]
  
  BULLET::::- Hawaii: see below
  
  BULLET::::- Idaho: Lewiston (territorial)
  
  BULLET::::- Illinois: Kaskaskia, Vandalia
  
  BULLET::::- Indiana: Vincennes (territorial) (1798–1813), Corydon (1813–1816)
  
  BULLET::::- Iowa: Des Moines
  
  BULLET::::- Kansas: Lecompton
   BULLET::::- Several provinces of the Philippines technically have their capitals outside their borders when the cities are classified as highly urbanized (independent); by law these cities are not included in any province, although most of the time these cities are tightly connected and were sometimes once part of the province that surrounds them. See cities of the Philippines for a more extensive explanation and the Virginia entry below for a comparison.
  
  BULLET::::- Port Elizabeth, South Africa – administrative centre of the Cacadu District Municipality, itself in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality
   List of capitals outside the territories they serve
  
  There are many cases where a subnational territory (a federated state, municipality, or other unit) is governed from a capital city that is not itself a part of that territory. In most of these cases, the city itself is constituted as a separate local government unit, but also administers a surrounding or neighbouring territory. In cases such as Telangana in India, a new area is created by division but is still administered from the same capital.
  
  Section::::Current.
   The Confederate States of America (C.S.A.) had two capitals during its existence. The first capital was established February 4, 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama, and remained there until it was moved to Richmond, Virginia, on May 29, 1861, after Virginia seceded on May 23.
  
  The individual state capitals remained the same in the Confederacy as they had been in the Union (U.S.A.), although as the advancing Union Army used those cities for military districts, some of the Confederate governments were relocated or moved out of state, traveling along with secessionist armies.
  
  BULLET::::- Montgomery, February 4, 1861 – May 29, 1861
   BULLET::::- Oklahoma: Guthrie (1889–1910)
  
  BULLET::::- Oregon: Oregon City (territorial)
  
  BULLET::::- Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Lancaster
  
  BULLET::::- Rhode Island: Newport
  
  BULLET::::- South Carolina: Charleston (1670–1788)
  
  BULLET::::- South Dakota: Yankton, Bismarck (Dakota territory)
  
  BULLET::::- Texas: see below
  
  BULLET::::- Utah: Fillmore (1851–1856) (territorial)
  
  BULLET::::- Vermont: Windsor (1777–1805)
  
  BULLET::::- Virginia: Jamestown (colonial), Williamsburg
  
  BULLET::::- West Virginia: Wheeling
  
  BULLET::::- Wisconsin: Belmont
  
  Section::::Former national capitals.
  
  Two of the 50 U.S. states, Hawaii and Texas, were once "de jure" sovereign states with diplomatic recognition from the international community.
  
  Section::::Former national capitals.:Hawaii.
   BULLET::::- Capital City (TV series), a television show produced by Euston Films and set in London
  
  BULLET::::- Capital City Distribution, a company that distributed comic books from 1980 to 1996
  
  BULLET::::- Capital City (The Simpsons), a fictional place in a television cartoon series
  
  Section::::Capital cities.
  
  BULLET::::- Capital Cities Communications, US media company
  
  BULLET::::- Capital Cities (band)
  
  Section::::Capitol city.
  
  BULLET::::- Capitol City, Kentucky was a plan for a new capital of the United States, along with the Western District of Columbia, across the Ohio River from Metropolis, Illinois
  
  BULLET::::- Capitol City, Colorado is a ghost town founded in 1877
  
  Section::::See also.
   BULLET::::- Zagreb, Croatia – Capital of Zagreb County, itself administratively separate
  
  BULLET::::- Winner, South Dakota, United States – seat of both Tripp and Todd counties, itself located in Tripp County.
  
  BULLET::::- Yevlakh, Azerbaijan – capital of Yevlakh Rayon, itself administratively separate
  
  Section::::Historical.
  
  BULLET::::- Busan, South Korea – capital of the province of South Gyeongsang, itself a metropolitan city (from 1963, when the city was separated from the province, to 1983, when it was replaced by Changwon)
   Twenty-two state capitals have been a capital longer than their state has been a state, since they served as the capital of a predecessor territory, colony, or republic. Boston, Massachusetts, has been a capital city since 1630; it is the oldest continuously-running capital in the United States. Santa Fe, New Mexico, is the oldest capital city, having become capital in 1610 and interrupted only by the aforementioned Pueblo Revolt. An even older Spanish city, St. Augustine, Florida, served as a colonial capital from 1565 until about 1820, more than 250 years.
  
  The table below includes the following information:
   BULLET::::- Harrisburg (now part of Houston), 1836
  
  BULLET::::- Galveston, 1836
  
  BULLET::::- Velasco, 1836
  
  BULLET::::- West Columbia, 1836
  
  BULLET::::- Houston, 1837–1839
  
  BULLET::::- Austin, 1839–1845
  
  Annexed by the United States in 1845, Austin remains the capital of the state of Texas.
  
  Section::::Native American capitals.
   BULLET::::- Red Clay 1832–1838
  
  The Cherokee National council grounds were moved to Red Clay, Tennessee on the Georgia state line in order to evade the Georgia state militia. The log cabins, limestone springs and park-like woods of Red Clay served as the capital until the Cherokee Nation was removed to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) on the Trail of Tears. 
  
  BULLET::::- Tahlequah 1839–1907, 1938–present
   To this end, "twin cities" such as Minneapolis–Saint Paul in Minnesota would not be considered a megalopolitan area since both cities are fairly integrated with each other even though both cities have distinct city borders and large central business districts. Large communities on the outskirts of major cities, such as Silver Spring or Bethesda in Maryland outside of Washington, DC, are clearly distinct areas with even their own downtowns. However, they are not in any way independent of their host city, being still considered suburbs that would almost certainly not have developed in the ways that they have without the presence of Washington.
  