Setting

The Simpsons takes place in the fictional American town of Springfield in an unknown and impossible-to-determine U.S. state. The show is intentionally evasive in regard to Springfield's location. The name "Springfield" is a common one in America and appears in 22 states. Springfield's geography, and that of its surroundings, contain coastlines, deserts, vast farmland, tall mountains, or whatever the story or joke requires. Groening has said that Springfield has much in common with Portland, Oregon, the city where he grew up.

Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated television series The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an unknown state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its surroundings are flexible, changing to address whatever an episode’s plot calls for. Springfield's location is impossible to determine; the show is deliberately evasive on the subject, providing contradictory and impossible information.

Springfield was founded in 1796 by a group led by Jebediah Springfield (also known as Hans Sprungfeld) that, after misinterpreting a passage in the Bible, left Maryland trying to find "New Sodom." After he refused to found a town where men were free to marry their cousins, half of the group left. The dissenters founded Shelbyville, after fellow pioneer Shelbyville Manhattan, and the two cities remain rivals. Springfield reached its pinnacle in the mid-20th century, when it became the home of the world's first Aquacar factory; one half of the U.S. was said to wear Springfield galoshes and Springfield's streets were literally paved with gold. The town's prosperity faded; a Time cover story on Springfield was entitled "America's Worst City", and Newsweek called the town "America's Crud Bucket".