SELECT state FROM table2 ; > WHERE State NOT IN (SELECT state FROM table1) >* or using correlated query >SELECT state FROM table2 ; > WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT state FROM table1 WHERE state = table2.state ) > >While VFP might optimize a correlated subquery like yours, in generally, when you can write a readable query without a correlated subquery, it's a better choice. (To the best of my knowledge, any correlated EXISTS query can be rewritten as an IN query, but sometimes the result is pretty obscure.)