In what U.S. state is F. Scott Fitzgerald's birthplace?

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birthplace was in Minnesota. He was born in Saint Paul on September 24, 1896, into a middle-class Catholic family with Irish and English ancestry.

Fitzgerald’s connection to Saint Paul remained important even though his family moved to Buffalo, New York, when he was young. They later returned to Minnesota, and he attended St. Paul Academy before being sent to the Newman School in New Jersey. His Midwestern background later became part of the regional identity he gave Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby.

The author’s full birth name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. He was named partly for Francis Scott Key, the lyricist of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” who was a distant relative. Fitzgerald’s father had moved to Minnesota from Maryland, which may help explain why Maryland sometimes appears in mistaken biographical recollections.

Fitzgerald is often associated with New York because of his novels’ settings and with California because he died in Los Angeles. Neither is his birthplace. He spent important parts of his childhood in New York state, but Saint Paul, Minnesota, is the canonical answer.