Postal state codes: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

List of All 50 US State Abbreviations

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Although technology has made communicating with friends and family easier, there are still occasions where you may want to send a letter the old-fashioned way. To make sure your mail arrives at the correct destination in the United States, you’ll need to use the appropriate U.S. state abbreviations. Check out a complete state abbreviations list, traditional abbreviations for each state and when you’d want to use either one.

These official state abbreviations have all been standardized by the United States Postal Service (USPS). State postal abbreviations are all two letters, and these two letters are always capitalized without any periods. There is also a list of traditional abbreviations used in other contexts. Note that with the traditional state abbreviations, the first letter is capitalized, subsequent letters are lowercase (unless they’re abbreviating a new word) and each abbreviation (where the name is not written out in full) ends in a period.

Browse the list of all 50 U.S. state postal abbreviations as well as their traditional abbreviations. A printable list is provided below.

State Name	USPS Abbreviation	Traditional Abbreviation
Alabama	AL	Ala.
Alaska	AK	Alaska
Arizona	AZ	Ariz.
Arkansas	AR	Ark.
California	CA	Calif.
Colorado	CO	Colo.
Connecticut	CT	Conn.
Delaware	DE	Del.
Florida	FL	Fla.
Georgia	GA	Ga.
Hawaii	HI	Hawaii
Idaho	ID	Idaho
Illinois	IL	Ill.
Indiana	IN	Ind.
Iowa	IA	Iowa
Kansas	KS	Kans.
Kentucky	KY	Ky.
Louisiana	LA	La.
Maine	ME	Maine
Maryland	MD	Md.
Massachusetts	MA	Mass.
Michigan	MI	Mich.
Minnesota	MN	Minn.
Mississippi	MS	Miss.
Missouri	MO	Mo.
Montana	MT	Mont.
Nebraska	NE	Neb. or Nebr.
Nevada	NV	Nev.
New Hampshire	NH	N.H.
New Jersey	NJ	N.J.
New Mexico	NM	N.Mex.
New York	NY	N.Y.
North Carolina	NC	N.C.
North Dakota	ND	N.Dak.
Ohio	OH	Ohio
Oklahoma	OK	Okla.
Oregon	OR	Ore. or Oreg.
Pennsylvania	PA	Pa.
Rhode Island	RI	R.I.
South Carolina	SC	S.C.
South Dakota	SD	S. Dak.
Tennessee	TN	Tenn.
Texas	TX	Tex. or Texas
Utah	UT	Utah
Vermont	VT	Vt.
Virginia	VA	Va.
Washington	WA	Wash.
West Virginia	WV	W.Va.
Wisconsin	WI	Wis. or Wisc.
Wyoming	WY	Wyo.

Did you know? For the most part, these state abbreviations have stayed the same since 1963. One exception is Nebraska, which changed its abbreviation from NB to NE in 1967 to avoid confusion with the Canadian province New Brunswick.

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Printable List of US State Abbreviations

If you want to keep a handy resource available for future use, you can download and print this list of USPS state abbreviations.

List US State Abbreviations

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Printable US State Abbreviations Map

If you’d like a quick visual guide to remembering the state abbreviations, check out the map below. Download the map and you can write in the abbreviation on each state and then click on the checkmark to see if you’re correct. Print the map for a handy reference sheet.

US State Abbreviations quiz

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US Commonwealths and Territories

The United States has several territories outside of the 50 states in the union. These territories may not be official states, but they still adhere to the same formula of two capital letters for their official abbreviations.

Territory Name	USPS Abbreviation	Traditional Abbreviation
American Samoa	AS	Amer. Samoa
District of Columbia	DC	D.C.
Guam	GU	Guam
Northern Mariana Islands	MP	M.P.
Puerto Rico	PR	P.R.
Virgin Islands	VI	V.I.

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Brief History of Postal Abbreviations

These USPS postal abbreviations haven’t been around forever. In fact, they’ve only existed since 1963, just four years after the 50th state (Hawaii) was added to the union. Before that, most states had three to five letters in their abbreviations, such as FLA for Florida and CALIF for California — similar to their traditional abbreviations.

However, on July 1, 1963, the Post Office Department began using five-digit zip codes. The addressing equipment at most post offices only allowed 23 characters, so they needed to shorten the state abbreviations in order to fit the zip codes. That’s where the two-digit USPS state abbreviations began.

If you’re writing a letter or sending anything else through the mail, you should use the USPS state abbreviation. However, style guides such as MLA Style, AP Style or Chicago Manual of Style sometimes prefer traditional abbreviations rather than the USPS abbreviations.

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Using USPS State Abbreviations

Here’s when you should use USPS state abbreviations:

• when addressing a letter or item through the United States mail
• when writing bibliographies or tables in Chicago style
• in parentheses after writing the full name of a state

Using Traditional State Abbreviations

In other cases, you should use the traditional abbreviations, such as:

• when describing a person’s political party affiliation (for example, D-Miss. or R-Mont.)
• when naming the location of a news story in the dateline of an article
• when naming states in a list or table in AP style

If the situation isn’t listed here, you should use the entire capitalized state name. One example is when you’re writing about a state in running text, such as “I went to Wyoming over the summer.” Avoid either state or traditional abbreviations in headlines when possible.

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So why is Tennessee abbreviated as TN instead of TE? Why is the abbreviation for Missouri MO when the word starts with “Mi?” Many postal abbreviations are from older sets of abbreviations, and they never repeat between states. Most state abbreviations follow a pattern for shortening state names.

You can follow these general patterns:

• All USPS and traditional abbreviations begin with the first letter of the state’s name.
• The second letter of USPS abbreviations is found within the state’s name (usually the second letter, but in some cases, further along in the word).
• If a state has two words in its name, its postal abbreviation uses the first letter of each word in its abbreviation (for example, NM for New Mexico and WV for West Virginia).
• Most traditional abbreviations use the first three, four or five letters of the state’s name, such as Colorado (Colo. ) or Nevada (Nev.)

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State Abbreviations That Don’t Follow Standard Patterns

However, there are a few states that break the rules or are especially confusing. Some of these states of confusion include:

• States with five or fewer letters are never abbreviated in traditional abbreviations. These states are Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, and Utah.
• Alaska and Hawaii are also never abbreviated in traditional abbreviations, although they are abbreviated in USPS abbreviations (AK and HI).
• Some states, such as Tennessee and Texas, begin with the same letters. Giving either state the abbreviation of TE would be confusing; therefore, Tennessee is TN and Texas is TX.
• Much of the confusion around state abbreviations comes from the eight states that begin with “M” (Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, and Montana). Of these states, only two follow the first-and-second-letter rule: Massachusetts (MA) and Michigan (MI).
• States that use the same letters in both USPS and traditional abbreviations are: Georgia (GA and Ga.), Kentucky (KY and Ky.), Louisiana (LA and La.), Maryland (MD and Md.), Missouri (MO and Mo.), Pennsylvania (PA and Pa.), Vermont (VT and Vt.), and Virginia (VA and Va.)
• States with two words in their names also share USPS and traditional abbreviations, with the exception of New Mexico (NM and N.Mex.), North Dakota (ND and N.Dak.), South Dakota (SD and S.Dak.), and West Virginia (WV and W.Va.)

When all else fails, come up with a memorable mnemonic to help you think of the correct codes. For example, Hawaiians are so friendly that they always say “HI!”

The United States is a fascinating and diverse country, with each state very different from the next. Take a tour around the different regions of the U.S. with several exciting and educational resources.

• Use a list of USPS street and building abbreviations for further postal reference.
• Check out some interesting facts about U. S. state capitals from all 50 states.
• Learn fun facts about Georgia that you may have not known before. And while you’re learning about the South, you can find out all about Florida.
• From the South to the West. Have you ever wanted to know some amazing facts about Hawaii? Or what about these incredible facts about California?
• Take a look at the largest cities in the U.S. by state. See how they compare to the largest cities in the world.

America the Beautiful

Learning more about the United States of America can bring a new appreciation for the great democratic experiment. Expand your knowledge with these famous American symbols and their histories. Finally, if you’re writing about the U.S., check out a list of words that describe the United States.

TWO−LETTER STATE AND TERRITORY ABBREVIATIONS

US states: capitals, telephone and postal codes,

The concept of “state” has ancient roots. It appeared in the 40s of the XVII century and was associated with the conduct of wars of conquest by England. It was customary to call individual colonies states. The United States is currently one of the largest countries in the world. The state has a federal structure, uniting 50 states since 1959. Each of them has its own motto, flag, constitution and its own capital. However, it is a mistake to assume that this is necessarily its largest city. In size and importance, it can be just an ordinary city.

Source: prousa.info

States are made up of counties that are smaller than them but larger than or equal to many cities. Some states have cities that are much larger than counties. New York is such an example. This territorial unit includes 3,140 districts. The settlements included in them are managed by municipal city authorities. Within rural areas, there may be a division into townships. In addition, the Federal District of Columbia was created, which does not belong to any of the states. It contains the capital of the country, Washington. The US administration includes island territories that are not part of the states.

Each state has an extensive system of government:

• legislatures;
• judiciary;
• executive system.

Most of the names from the 50 states appeared during the period of residence of Indian tribes in North America. The names of others reflected French, English, Latin. In total, there are 8 sources for the origin of state names:

• Washington has American roots;
• near Rhode Island – Dutch;
• three names – from French origin;
• six – from Spanish;
• 11 items – English.
• Hawaii named in their language;
• Alaska – in the language of the Eskimos;
• 26 states have a name of Indian origin (the name of Idaho is fictitious).

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have been assigned postal codes.

Table of states with names of capitals, postal and telephone codes

Phone code	№	State name	Capital name	Post code
208	1	Idaho	Boise Center	ID
319 – 515 -563 – 641 – 712	2	Iowa	Des Moines Main Center	IA
205 – 251 – 256 – 334	3	Alabama	Montgomery	AL
907	4	Alaska	Juneau Center	AK
480 – 520 – 602 – 623 – 928	5	Arizona	Phoenix metropolitan area	AZ
501 – 870	6	Arkansas	Little Rock	AR
307	7	Wyoming	Cheyenne	WY
206 – 253 – 360 – 425 – 509	8	Washington	Olympia	WA
802	9	Vermont	Montpelier	VT
276 – 434 – 540 – 571 – 703 – 757 – 804	10	Virginia	Richmond	VA
262 – 414 – 608 – 715 – 920	11	Wisconsin	Madison metropolitan area	WI
808	12	Hawaii	Downtown Honolulu	HI
302	13	Delaware	Dover	DE
229 – 404 – 478 – 678 – 706 – 770 – 912	14	Georgia	Downtown Atlanta	GA
+1 304	15	West Virginia	Chorleston	WV
217 – 309 – 312 – 618 – 630 – 708 – 773 – 815 – 847	16	Illinois	Springfield	IL
219 – 260 – 317 – 574 – 765 – 812	17	Indiana	Downtown Indianapolis	IN
209 – 213 – 310 – 323 – 408 – 415 – 510 – 530 – 559 – 562 – 619 – 626 – 650 – 661 – 707 – 714 – 760 – 805 – 818 – 831 – 858 – 909 – 916 – 925 – 949	18	California	Sacramento	CA
316 – 620 – 785 – 913	19	Kansas	Topeka	KS
270 – 502 – 606 – 859	20	Kentucky	Frankfort Center	KY
303 – 719 – 720 – 970	21	Colorado	Downtown Denver	CO
203 – 860	22	Connecticut	Hartford Core Area	CT
225 – 318 – 337 – 504 – 985	23	Louisiana	Downtown Baton Rouge	LA
339 – 351 – 413 – 508 – 617 – 774 – 781 – 857 – 978	24	Massachusetts	Downtown Boston	MA
218 – 320 – 507 – 612 – 651 – 763 – 952	25	Minnesota	St. Paul	MN
228 – 601 – 662	26	Mississippi	Jackson	MS
314 – 417 – 573 – 636 – 660 – 816	27	Missouri	Jefferson City	MO
231 – 248 – 313 – 517 – 586 – 616 – 734 – 810 – 906 – 989	28	Michigan	Center Lansing	MI
406	29	Montana	Helena	MT
207	30	Maine	Augusta Center	ME
240 – 301 – 410 – 443	31	Maryland	Annapolis metropolitan area	MD
308 – 402	32	Nebraska	Lincoln Center	NE
702 – 775	33	Nevada	Carson City	N.V.
201 – 609 – 732 – 856 – 908 – 973	34	New Jersey	Trenton	N. J.
212 – 315 – 347 – 516 – 518 – 607 – 631 – 646 – 716 – 718 – 845 – 914 – 917	35	New York	Downtown Albany	NY
505	36	New Mexico	Santa Fe	NM
603	37	New Hampshire	Concord	NH
216 – 234 – 330 – 419 – 440 – 513 – 614 – 740 – 937	38	Ohio	Columbus	OH
405 – 580 – 918	39	Oklahoma	Oklahoma City	OK
+1(202)	40	DC	Washington	DC
503 – 541 – 971	41	Oregon	Salem metropolitan area	OR
215 – 267 – 412 – 484 – 570 – 610 – 717 – 724 – 814 – 878	42	Pennsylvania	Harrisburg	PA
401	43	Rhode Island	Providence	PI
701	44	North Dakota	Center Bismarck	ND
252 – 336 – 704 – 828 – 910 – 919 – 980	45	North Carolina	Roles	NC
423 – 615 – 731 – 865 – 901 – 931	46	Tennessee	Downtown Nashville	TN
210 – 214 – 254 – 281 – 361 – 409 – 469 – 512 – 682 – 713 – 806 – 817 – 830 – 832 – 903 – 915 – 936 – 940 – 956 – 972 – 979	47	Texas	Downtown Austin	TX
305 – 321 – 352 – 386 – 407 – 561 – 727 – 754 – 772 – 786 – 813 – 850 – 863 – 904 – 941 – 954	48	Florida	Tallahassee	FL
605	49	South Dakota	Center Pierre	SD
803 – 843 – 864	50	South Carolina	Center Columbia	SC
435 – 801	51	Utah	Capital District Salt Leith City	UT

List of U.

S. State Zip Codes – Wikipedia – Wikiwand

Two-letter US state abbreviations is widely used by the US Postal Service. In its current form, a single standard was adopted in October 1963, and the first attempt to unify abbreviations and abbreviations for the needs of the post office was made back in 1831. The only change to the current Postal Service code list occurred in 1969, when the letters NE ^[1] were chosen instead of NB to prevent confusion with the Canadian province of New Brunswick’s Nebraska code abbreviation. In addition, prior to 1988, the postal code for the Northern Mariana Islands served by the USPS was CM.

Detail of an envelope containing a letter from Hagerstown, Maryland to Escondido, California (recipient’s identity withheld). Postal codes are visible – MD for Maryland, CA for California.

The two-letter codes of the United States Postal Service (USPS) are the same as the two-letter abbreviations of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), but differ slightly from the codes used to mark ships by the US Coast Guard (for example, the code for the state of California in the US Postal Service system is CA, and in the US Coast Guard – CF). Abbreviations for individual states, adopted by the ISO 3166 standard, which regulates, among other things, the code designations of administrative entities, are the same as the USPS and ANSI codes, but use the “US-” prefix (for example, US-FL for Florida instead of FL). The abbreviations ANSI and ISO 3166 also do not apply to specific postal codes (for example, codes for US Army correspondence outside the country). There are no postal codes for the Outer Minor Islands. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license (“CC BY-SA 3.0”) ; additional terms may apply. (view authors). Unless otherwise noted, content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
#Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Wiki (DUHOCTRUNGQUOC.VN) is an independent company and has no affiliation with Wikimedia Foundation.

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