Wondering what American accent you have? Here are 3 online quizzes that can diagnose which regional dialect you use based on your pronunciation and vocabulary. We tried a dozen different dialect tests to determine which gave the clearest, most accurate feedback and analysis. One even got us pinned down to the right state!
There were definitely some duds in there, too. One thought I was British, and another said my accent was “high-pitched.” Not sure how that’s an American accent or how that’s determined from written answers. So don’t worry, we excluded those. And all of our favorites are fast and easy to take. They don’t require any apps or downloads, and most are free!
Babbel’s Dialect Quiz
The foreign language learning app Babbel has a great American Dialect Quiz on its website. It’s fast, free, and there’s no need to download an app or make an account. The 15-question quiz covers both word pronunciations (“how do you pronounce ‘lawyer’?“) and regional terminology (“do you call a carbonated beverage soda, pop, or coke?”).
The quiz results tell you which region of the United States your accent hails from. Our results were accurate, but a little bit broad. I grew up in Virginia, and they dubbed me from “The South,” even though my Southern accent is negligible. And Sherry, who is from New Jersey, got “The Northeast.” Again, accurate, but a little broad when you consider how distinct pockets of the Northeast sound (Boston vs. Brooklyn, for instance).
GoToQuiz’s What American Accent Do You Have?
Although this website is more obscure and its design is pretty outdated, GoToQuiz’s free American accent quiz is straightforward and pretty accurate. It’s only 13 questions long and focuses on your pronunciation of different vowel sounds in words like pin vs. pen, caught vs. cot, and merry vs. mary vs. marry. Heads up: there are A LOT of ads on this page, and many disguise themselves as part of the quiz. Be sure to ONLY click “Submit Answers” to get your results.
Our results were more mixed on this quiz. I got a “Midland” accent, which they say is like “not having an accent.” Having grown up near Washington DC, I am told my accent is fairly neutral or mixed, but the results don’t specifically point to this region of the country. It was fun to see our results presented as a graph of different regions though, since most people speak with a blend of regional dialects.
NYT U.S. Dialect Quiz
Our favorite accent test BY FAR, for both accuracy and depth of information, is The New York Times’ U.S. Dialect Quiz. It does sit behind a subscriber paywall, but it’s just too good not to include on this list. It’s 25 questions long, and after each response, you get a colored “heatmap” of where your answer is most common in the United States. At the end, you’re given a clear geographic picture of your accent.
The results were spot on for both of us (mine above, Sherry’s below). The heatmap was scarily accurate, and even the 3 cities they highlighted for each of us nearly triangulated where we grew up. We also noticed our final questions on the test were slightly different, showing that the quiz was adapting as we took it.
Additionally, this test provides details below the map about which of your answers were most telling. My biggest giveaway was calling a drive-through liquor store a “Brew Thru,” which is a specific chain in the Outer Banks, NC. For Sherry, it was the term “Mischief Night” (the night before Halloween). We don’t use those words often, but apparently they represent highly regionalized knowledge!
Note: The maps above show our 2026 results, but you can see our original results from when we first discussed this quiz in 2013.
Our Favorite Accent Tests: A Summary
These 3 dialect quizzes are all fun and fast to take, so we suggest trying all 3 to see how your results compare. Based on our experience, here’s are the pros and cons of each:
- New York Times US Dialect Quiz: The most accurate and most detailed quiz, but requires a subscriber account to take. Take this if you want to learn the most about what defines your dialect and how it compares to other areas of the country.
- Babbel American Dialect Quiz: The easiest quiz to complete, with a clean and free interface. Results are broad, but this is a quick & fun way to see which region of the country your accent matches most.
- GoToQuiz American Accent Test: The fastest quiz to complete, offering a bit more detailed results than the Babbel quiz. We found it to be a bit less accurate, but the nuance in the diagnosis and bar chart results made it worth taking.
Beth says
I have lived in Maryland for 15 years, but I was born and raised in central NY. This quiz tells me I have an “Inland North” accent, in which people ask me if I’m from Wisconsin…and this happens pretty often–even after living outside of the inland north for so long. So, it’s surprisingly accurate for me!
Incidentally, this quiz touched on a lot of nuances that completely puzzled me when I moved to Maryland. I seriously could not understand people at first. Some guy kept telling me his aunts name was “Pinny”. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why anyone would make their kid that.
I also didn’t understand why my friend would give her daughter a “crown” to color with.
Language and dialect are so funny. :-)
Natalie @ Wipes Are Not Weapons says
I never thought I had an accent, but then I moved from Ohio to Arizona and was informed that I had a bit of a Cleveland accent. It’s super nasal, and makes my name Natalie sound like “Nyeeatalie.” It pretty much puts a “yeea” sound in everything, kind of like people from Chicago. It’s since faded, but watching old home movies is hysterical now. “MAHM! Oh my GAHD!” is seemingly all I said through my teenage years, haha!
Anna says
Lovely. I’m from the Inland North, as well. Only… not at all. In fact, I’ve only been to Chicago half a dozen times. I was born (and now live) in Oklahoma and raised between it and Germany equally. “Pop” and “soda” are a tossup, though, as the husband comes from Georgia, and while I prefer “pop”, sometimes I repeat him…
Melissa says
Haha ! it makes me laugh when people say “you sound like your from Canada”… Talk to someone from Newfoundland vs. Ontario and they sound entirely different! My grandparents live in NFLD and I am from Niagara Falls, Ontario, and when I would visit them I could barely understand what their newfie neighbours were trying to say to me!
I cross the border often and even people in Buffalo have a different accent then us in Ontario! :) Was just in Ohio and there is DEF a difference, almost sounds southern to me! …. I got Inland North which I suppose would be the most accurate.
Kristin Johnson says
Mine says Boston, I am from California and have lived in Texas for almost 7 years now, and lived in Kentucky for 5 years before that. So WRONG!
Amy E. says
96% the west, 95% midland. i’ve been away from MN so long that i lost my slight hint of an accent.
Cassie says
Yesss, glad I’m not the only nerd who loves quizzes like this;)
As for me, 96% score for The West. Sounds about right!
Brittany says
I got 100% South. I guess thats 100% accurate cause I am from south georgia!
Lauren says
There should have been a whole category for The Katie Bower Accent. She has the BEST accent!! I am Canadian and rarely get to hear southern accents. Whenever she posts videos, I get so excited and hope she says “y’all” a lot!
Young House Life says
Yes! I loved how “turnt up” her accent was when she was on Nate Berkus. It was hilarious! You should hear her reenact it!
xo
s
Hy says
I had to laugh when the quiz said that John has no accent! When I first heard him in one of your videos I thought he had a very distinct accent, couldn’t tell you where from, though. Virginia/not-too-far-south-southern? Definitely not the “generic newscaster” type, sorry to burst your bubble! (no offense meant, I love hearing different regional accents)
ErinY says
They definitely nailed it for me! I got 100% “Inland North” and in the description it says, “Are you from Wisconsin?” And I’ve been living in the south for 4 years. I guess some things just never change! lol
Kathleen says
My results were 89% Inland North. I’m from the Northeast, so it makes sense. But it said I probably call carbonated beverages “pop”, which I definitely do not do! LOL
Christy says
I apparently am the Cali girl from the south! Interestingly enough I have been asked if I was from “the south” several times in my twenties while waiting tables. I guess its not just when I am serving food. :)
Meredith says
We took one of these when I was at home for Labor Day; it was super fun! My sister & I grew up in Wisconsin, but I now live in Iowa (and have for 10 years) and she lives in Ohio. My parents are from Maryland and Massachusetts, but have lived in Wisconsin for 30+ years. My mom was SO happy she got tagged as being from Maryland/Southern as that’s what her roots are. I was strongly Midwestern (shocker) and both my dad and sister were neutral/no accent. I have gone over to the dark side and now call it “pop” even though I grew up with soda, but the “water fountain” will ALWAYS be a bubbler to me!!!!
Veronika says
As a native german speaker I don’t know that much about american accents and therefore couldn’t take the quiz fast enough.
The Result: Philadelphia
First, I didn’t know what to make of that but the quiz-guys mentioned Baltimore as the same accent area and I traced my result back to a lot of “The Wire” DVD watching I’ve been doing lately.
Anyway – fun quiz, great bolg!
Liebe Grüße,
Veronike
Young House Life says
So funny! I love hearing what people from other countries are getting!
xo
s
Julie says
100% Inland North. Appropriate, since I’m from western NY.
I took a much more detailed quiz a few months ago that could pin you down to your city. And mine was spot on. Interesting, though, because I relocated to this city right after college (almost 10 years ago now) and although it’s the next major city to the east of where I grew up, the subtleties in the quiz put my dialect more from my current city than my birth city.
I wish I could find a link to it, but I don’t remember the details. It may be this one, which is currently closed but may reopen. http://spark.rstudio.com/jkatz/DialectQuiz/
Young House Life says
Love that link Julie!
xo
s
Emily M says
Just took it and am not surprisingly 100% midland. I’m from Pennsylvania so it wasn’t a shock :)
liz @ bon temps beignet says
“It’s just like in the word “whore.” — I laughed out loud at that one. I got “The Midland” but I don’t think that poor quiz stood a chance. I’m from New Orleans and we have a whole bunch of crazy accents all in one town! Most out-of-towners will ask where we’re visiting from. They usually assume Brooklyn.
Where y’at dawlin!? ;)
Bonnie Morscher says
I was 100% inland north. Which was totally accurate since I was born and raised and still live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Mary, merry and marry all sound exactly the same in these parts, which always cracks up people from New York.
Leslie says
I got 96% “The West” and I’m from Pennsylvania. I’ve never even BEEN to the west coast. Fascinating.
Carly says
Inland North… When you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like “Are you from Wisconsin?” and chances are you call carbonated drinks “pop.” I’m not from Wisconsin, but I’m from Buffalo… another city on the Great Lakes and I’ve been calling it pop since I was a little kid… nailed it.
Sol says
I have just done the test, and I am apparently from the North Eastern area. Probably New York or North Jersey. As an English person I find that pretty funny, as when watch TV programmes and they have people from New Jersey in it, I have to listen really hard to what is being said.
I think I must have pressed the wrong button…
Christy Niebaum says
I’ve lived in Kansas since the age of 5 and my results were nearly identical to John’s. The only slight difference was my “south” score, which was 46%.
My cousins are all from Mississippi and have always made fun of my “accent” saying “Hey, you guys want a pop?” to which I retort “Ya’ll wanna Coke?”
Bren says
I am Midland 95%. I’m from Miami, Florida. I live in NC, but EVERYONE asks where I’m from. I don’t have an accent, but I do talk fast (especially to people from NC) and people do ask me if I’m from Boston. I don’t say anything remotely Boston-esque. No caaaar, nothing. I’m Irish and I think there’s a little bit of my grandmother there in my word choice/sayings, etc. I just don’t have an accent which makes people wonder where I’m from. I don’t get how pin and pen could remotely sound alike?! ;)
Pre says
I was thrown by the Mary, merry, marry question – none of the answer choices made sense to me:
– they all sound the same
– they all sound different
– Mary and merry sound the same while marry sounds different
Huh?? How about an option that Mary and marry sound the same and merry sounds different??
I’m sure this doesn’t-make-sense Q&A is why I was labeled ‘the inland north’ with ‘northeast’ lagging 2% behind. (I’m from NYC/NJ, not Chicago as much as I love that town with space for alleyways to stow its trash)
Amanda K says
I got “The West”. I’m from Houston, but according to the quiz, I have no accent, which I believe to be true. I think I’m going to start telling people I’m from the west…that sounds way better than Houston.
Brittney Everett says
The first time I took a different, more intensive quiz it was Spot on! I mean as close as it can get considering I’m from Canada…. but then I took it more and more times and got different results each time, still similar but different enough!
http://www.finnie.org/projects/dialect/
Young House Life says
Off to check it out!
xo
s
Hannah C. says
95% Midland. Which is funny to me. Live in Florida, raised by someone from Pennsylvania and someone from Georgia. When I visit family in either state, they say I have a northern/southern accent, but of course opposite from the region I’m currently visiting.
Belinda says
Fun! I’m not even from America, but had a go & my Australian accent is 100% The Northeast.
So Mick Dundee should have fit in perfectly with the New Yorkers in Crocodile Dundee (not that I sound like Mick Dundee!)
Belinda says
Ooh, found one that detects which country’s accent you have. No points for accuracy though as I’m Australian & often mistaken as English & according to the quiz I sound Canadian!
http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_accent_do_you_have_5
Dani says
Hahahaha!
I got 77% Aussie. I’m from Melbourne, born and bred! I get mistaken for a pom all the time too, I think its just because I speak proper English and not like a bogan :p
(Points to any Americans reading this who know what ‘bogan’ means)
Alyson says
Spot on; I’m from St. Louis and was 100% midland! Interestingly, though, also less than 100%, but equal parts Inland North, South, and Philadelphia…?
Amber L. says
This was so cool! I got Minnesotan which is really funny/neat because that is where my Mom is from but she died when I was a baby so it looks like I somehow took it from her. Thanks for sharing!
Amanda Warren says
Yeeeeewwww hawwwwww!! Guess you will need to work EXTRA hard on that Dr. Phil accent!! Fun idea taking the quiz!
Briel K. says
96% The West! I’ve lived in CA my whole life so I’d say that’s accurate! :)
Nantia says
My result: The Northeast 91%
I’m born, raised and living in Greece.
I like the part it says I could be from New York :)
Jill says
I got Inland North as my result, which is funny since I have never lived there. I was born in Iowa and have lived in California for the past 19 years. Midwest and West were my second and third options, but the % was much lower than Inland North.
Rhonda says
Mine was North Central. I’ve grown up and spent my entire life in Minnesota. I’d like to deny that I sound Canadian, but sadly I may not be able to claim that anymore. Haha
Jessica says
I also got Boston, and it’s totally wrong. I’ve never even been to Boston! Honestly, for some of those, the answer I wanted wasn’t an option!
It’s definitely non-scientific and I don’t think it’s very accurate, sadly, because I teach English, and I love looking at dialects and language! And for the record, I’m pretty sure I’m midlands with a touch of Philly!
Kara says
Mine’s pretty spot on:
88% Midland (Born and raised in Northern Virginia) and then 86% Inland North (I’ve been in Western NY for last 10 years)
My favorite phrase to use when I try to imitate accents is: Give me half an apple in half-an-hour!
Emily says
I got North Central and I loved the description which said that said “Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.” since I am Canadian.
Kerri says
” “North Central” is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw “Fargo” you probably didn’t think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot. ”
That’s probably because I am Canadian haha. I was wondering what the quiz would do for Canadians. The funny thing is though, this lumps me with people from Minnesota and North Dakota (which are only hours away from where I live in Manitoba)… but i have hung out with people from these states and we laugh at each others accents!
Dani says
Another Aussie here – That paaaahk the cah thing sounds totally right to me :p
I got 100% Northeast.
Meaghan says
“Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.”
Accurate since I am in fact Canadian. Ha!
Tiffany says
95% midland – I guess that means I have a 5% west accen (2nd rubber up). Not sure how that could happen since I’ve never been west of the Mississippi! I’ve lived in Florida pretty much my whole life.
Julie says
I got 90% on The Midland, so they’re saying I don’t have an accent. I guess I really don’t, but I can if I want to cause I pick up accents kind of easily. lol I was born in Michigan and have lived in Ohio and Kentucky and now live in California.
Cindy says
My result was 100% southern which is dead on. I’m from North Carolina.
DianeG says
100% Northeast — spot on!! I almost fell over when I read the first bit of the description: “Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey…” I live about 30 minutes outside the city. I have been told (when I leave this coast) that I have a very distinct accent, which of course I don’t hear at all and which sounds nothing like the TV portrayals of a Jersey accent. Thanks, guys! That was fun.
Katie says
Just laughed out loud at how accurate the results are. I got ‘Inland North’ and it said, “You may think you speak “Standard English straight out of the dictionary” but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like “Are you from Wisconsin?”
I am from Wisconsin and I do think that I sound like I don’t have an accent, but when I travel sometimes people ask where I’m from.
JamieH says
Haha, this was awesome to take! I scored 100% Inland North which is right on since I am from Chicago! :o)
Casey says
Uhh yeah mine was SPOT ON. It said Philadelphia and I’m from the suburbs outside of Philly. Crazy! I thought I had a pretty neutral accent…