North America · Northern America
How to draw United States from memory
United States comes in 2 separate pieces on the map. The main body is wider than it is tall; sketch that first, then place the smaller pieces relative to it. It ranks among the hardest countries to draw: the border carries far more detail than a freehand stroke can capture, so anything above 50 is a strong result.
- Difficulty
- hard
- Population
- 328.2 m
- Code
- USA
Draw United States
Practice · draw from memory
United States
A four-step strategy for United States
- 01
Draw a wide, shallow guide box in your head first — United States is much wider than tall, and getting that ratio right is worth more than any single coastline.
- 02
Anchor one unmistakable feature — the straightest border section or the sharpest cape — and draw outward from it in a single continuous stroke.
- 03
Finish the main landmass completely, then add the remaining 1 piece as separate strokes. Scoring counts total covered area, so an unclosed island can hurt more than a missing one.
- 04
Submit, read the nine-sector grid, and redraw immediately. The sector readout names the region you under-drew, and a second attempt typically gains 10–20 points.
Top scores for United States
Nobody has submitted a score for United States yet. Draw it above and you are first on this board.
Full leaderboard →Quick facts
- Continent
- North America
- Subregion
- Northern America
- Outline pieces
- 2
- Detail score
- 8.29
Three things that go wrong when people sketch United States
Each one is measured off the outline the game scores, not copied from a reference atlas: the proportions, the straight sections and the way the shape breaks into pieces are all properties of the coordinates your stroke gets compared against.
37% of the country is not the mainland
The outline is made of 2 separate pieces, and the largest one carries only 63% of the area. Sketched without the rest, the shape is short by that much even when the mainland is perfect — place the outlying piece first, then draw the mainland around it.
The north edge is a ruler line, not a coast
About 13% of the perimeter runs in one unbroken direction along the north. Rivers and capes do not do that; a border was drawn on a map. Straighten it deliberately — a wobbly line there throws the whole bounding box.
It narrows sharply toward the south
Measured across, the outline is 2.8× wider near its northern edge than near its southern one. A sketch that keeps the same width all the way down looks plausible and scores badly, because a missing taper is missing area.
Answer key: the real shape of United States
- Box on the canvas
- 440 × 338 units
- Width to height
- 1.30 : 1
- Separate landmasses
- 2
- Longest straight run
- 13% of the perimeter, along the north
- Coast against silhouette
- 1.58× the wrapping outline
Open it after you have drawn United States at least once. Seeing the shape first replaces the recall the score is meant to measure with tracing, and tracing always scores higher than remembering.
Why United States is scored this way
Country Drawing does not compare your sketch to a picture of United States. It scales and centres both your stroke and the real border into the same box, fills them, and measures how much of the two shapes overlap relative to their combined area. That means you are never punished for drawing United States small, off to one side, or rotated slightly — only for getting the shape itself wrong. The nine-sector grid then splits the real border into a 3×3 mesh and reports coverage per cell, which is how it can tell you that you lost the whole coastline rather than just handing you a number.
United States by the numbers
United States covers 9,372,610 km², which makes it the 4th largest of 190 countries in the game and the 2nd largest in North America. The capital is Washington D.C. at about 38°N, 97°W, and it sits in Northern America. It touches Canada and Mexico, and 63% of its area sits in one main landmass. The rest of the perimeter is water.
Next to United States: its land neighbours
Size is what the outline has to fill, so comparing the countries that share this border side by side is the fastest way to get the proportions into your head before you draw.
| Country | Area | Population | Capital | Pieces | vs United States |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Statesthis page | 9,372,610 km² | 328.2 m | Washington D.C. | 2 | — |
 Canada | 9,984,670 km² | 37.6 m | Ottawa | 8 | 1.07× |
 Mexico | 1,964,375 km² | 127.6 m | Mexico City | 1 | 0.21× |
Draw these next
Countries near United States share border conventions and coastline styles, which makes them the most useful follow-up practice.
Working through one country at a time is slow. Take the blank map of north america and label the whole region from memory — it shows you which neighbours you have never actually seen.
United States drawing questions
How big is United States?
United States covers 9,372,610 km², ranking 4th of 190 countries here by land area and 2nd in North America. About 94% of the area of Canada.
What is the capital of United States?
The capital is Washington D.C. at about 38°N, 97°W. The game scores the shape of the border rather than the position of any city, so the capital and its coordinates are here to help you place United States on a blank map.
Is United States hard to draw?
It is rated hard, and carries more outline detail than 90% of the 190 borders in this game. The shape has to be placed as 2 landmasses, with about 13% of the perimeter running dead straight along the north.
Which countries border United States?
United States shares a land border with Canada and Mexico. The remaining perimeter is coast, which is the part that usually costs points.