How to color code by state - not pinpoint symbols

[laurencantrell1]

I'm sorry if I'm using incorrect terminology here, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to change the symbol of a feature to encompass the entire state. I simply want color code states by # of actions taken. I've attached to screen shots. 

1. A layer created by my organization (your symbol choices)
2. A layer I created from an excel file (my symbol choices)

As you can see i only have the option to select from a few random shapes rather than an outline of a location. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated! 

[Anonymous User]

From the images it looks like what you have is a points layer. If you want color code the whole state what you would need is a polygon layer which has the states.

This layer is from our living atlas:
http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=99fd67933e754a1181cc755146be21ca 

Do you have just one point feature for each state? If so you can use the summarize data > join features analysis tool to get a polygon layer output with the attributes for # of actions then symbolize on that field.