Austria Map with States

Austria has 9 federal states, called Bundesländer or Länder in German. They are Burgenland, Carinthia (Kärnten), Lower Austria (Niederösterreich), Upper Austria (Oberösterreich), Salzburg, Styria (Steiermark), Tyrol (Tirol), Vorarlberg and Vienna (Wien). The map on this page shows all 9, which matches the official count. Each state has its own elected parliament (Landtag) and a government led by a governor (Landeshauptmann). The federal structure dates from the Federal Constitutional Law of 1920. Below the states, Austria is divided into 94 districts: 79 rural districts run by district authorities and 15 statutory cities that handle district administration themselves.

Lower Austria (Niederösterreich) is the largest Austrian state, covering 19,180 km² (7,405 sq mi) according to Statistik Austria. That is a little under a quarter of Austria's total area of about 83,880 km² (32,390 sq mi). The state lies in the northeast, surrounds Vienna completely, and borders the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Danube runs through it from west to east, including the Wachau valley. Sankt Pölten has been the capital since 1986. Lower Austria is also the second most populous state, with about 1.72 million residents (Statistik Austria, 1 January 2024), after Vienna.

Vienna (Wien) is Austria's most populous state, with about 2.01 million residents (Statistik Austria, 1 January 2024). That is more than a fifth of the country's population of about 9.16 million on the same reference date. Vienna is also the national capital and the country's largest city. It passed 2 million residents in 2023 for the first time since the early 20th century. Vienna is also the smallest state by area, at 415 km² (160 sq mi), so it is by far the most densely populated. Lower Austria has the second-largest population, at about 1.72 million (Statistik Austria, 1 January 2024).

Vienna (Wien) is both. It is Austria's capital city and also one of the 9 federal states. It became a separate state on 1 January 1922, when it split from Lower Austria. Vienna's mayor also serves as the state governor, and the city council also sits as the state parliament. On the map, Vienna appears as a small unit of 415 km² (160 sq mi) inside Lower Austria, with no border on any other state or country. Lower Austria kept its government offices in Vienna for decades after the split, until they moved to Sankt Pölten in 1997.

Tyrol (Tirol) appears as two separate shapes on the map of Austria because of the peace settlement after World War I. The Treaty of Saint-Germain in 1919 gave South Tyrol to Italy, which cut the direct land link between North Tyrol, around the capital Innsbruck, and East Tyrol, around Lienz. Both parts still form one state with one government. A narrow section of Salzburg and Italian territory separates them, so a direct trip between them passes through Salzburg or Italy. When you color Tyrol in the editor, both parts take the same color.

The capitals of Austria's 9 states are Eisenstadt (Burgenland), Klagenfurt (Carinthia), Sankt Pölten (Lower Austria), Linz (Upper Austria), Salzburg (Salzburg), Graz (Styria), Innsbruck (Tyrol), Bregenz (Vorarlberg) and Vienna, which is a state capital as well as the national capital. Two of these capitals are recent choices. Eisenstadt became Burgenland's capital in 1925 because Sopron, the intended capital, stayed in Hungary. Sankt Pölten was chosen as the capital of Lower Austria in 1986, and the state government moved there from Vienna in 1997. Graz is the largest state capital after Vienna, and Linz is next.

Burgenland became part of Austria in 1921, which makes it the last state to join. The area had been part of the Kingdom of Hungary and had a mostly German-speaking population. The postwar treaties gave it to Austria, but a plebiscite in December 1921 kept the city of Sopron (Ödenburg) in Hungary. Without its largest town, Burgenland chose Eisenstadt as its capital in 1925. Today Burgenland is the least populous state, with about 302,000 residents (Statistik Austria, 1 January 2024). It covers 3,965 km² (1,531 sq mi) and borders Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Austria's states have German names that differ from the English names in 6 cases: Carinthia is Kärnten, Lower Austria is Niederösterreich, Upper Austria is Oberösterreich, Styria is Steiermark, Tyrol is Tirol and Vienna is Wien. Burgenland, Salzburg and Vorarlberg are the same in both languages. Official Austrian statistics use the German names. The ISO 3166-2 codes run from AT-1 to AT-9 in alphabetical order of the German names: AT-1 Burgenland, AT-2 Kärnten, AT-3 Niederösterreich, AT-4 Oberösterreich, AT-5 Salzburg, AT-6 Steiermark, AT-7 Tirol, AT-8 Vorarlberg and AT-9 Wien. You can use these codes to match rows in a spreadsheet to states.

Build your own map of Austria with the browser editor on this page, which needs no account. One option is to color states by hand, for example to set the western Alpine states apart from Vienna and its neighbors. The other is to type or paste a number for each of the 9 states, which produces a choropleth with a legend. Pins can mark towns or ski resorts, and labels, fonts, border style and background can all be changed. On the free plan you export a standard PNG that carries a small Ultimaps credit. SVG, PDF and high-resolution PNG need Pro.