Several sets of codes and abbreviations are used to represent the political divisions of the United States for postal addresses, data processing, general abbreviations, and other purposes.
Table[edit] See also: List of states and territories of the United StatesThis table includes abbreviations for three independent countries related to the United States through Compacts of Free Association, and other comparable postal abbreviations, including those now obsolete.
Codes: ISO ISO 3166 codes (2-letter, 3-letter, and 3-digit codes from ISO 3166-1; 2+2-letter codes from ISO 3166-2) ANSI 2-digit codes from the ANSI standard INCITS 38:2009 (supersedes FIPS 5-2) USPS 2-letter codes used by the United States Postal Service and ANSI INCITS 38:2009 (bold red text shows differences between USPS and ANSI) USCG 2-letter codes used by the United States Coast Guard (bold red text shows differences between ANSI and USCG) Abbreviations: GPO Older variable-length official US Government Printing Office abbreviations AP Abbreviations from the AP Stylebook[1] (bold red text shows differences between GPO and AP) Court Abbreviations used by the United States federal judiciary system[2] Codes and abbreviations for U.S. states, federal district, territories, and other regions Name Status of region ISO ANSI USPS(& ANSI) USCG GPO AP Court Others United States of America Federal state(not defined by USPS) USUSA840 00 US U.S. U.S.A. Alabama State US-AL 01 AL Ala. Alaska State US-AK 02 AK Alaska Ak.[3] Arizona State US-AZ 04 AZ Ariz. Arkansas State US-AR 05 AR Ark. California State US-CA 06 CA CF Calif. Cal. Cal. Colorado State US-CO 08 CO CL Colo. Connecticut State US-CT 09 CT Conn. Delaware State US-DE 10 DE DL Del. District of Columbia Federal district US-DC 11 DC D.C. Dis. Col.[4] Florida State US-FL 12 FL Fla. Georgia State US-GA 13 GA Ga. Geo.[3] Hawaii State US-HI 15 HI HA Hawaii Haw. Hi.;[3] Haw. Idaho State US-ID 16 ID Idaho Ida.[3] Illinois State US-IL 17 IL Ill. Indiana State US-IN 18 IN Ind. Iowa State US-IA 19 IA Iowa Ioa.[a] Kansas State US-KS 20 KS KA Kans. Kan. Kan. Ka. Kentucky State US-KY 21 KY Ky. Ken., Kent.[b] Louisiana State US-LA 22 LA La. Maine State US-ME 23 ME Maine Me. Maryland State US-MD 24 MD Md. Mar., Mary. Massachusetts State US-MA 25 MA MS Mass. Michigan State US-MI 26 MI MC Mich. Minnesota State US-MN 27 MN Minn. Mississippi State US-MS 28 MS MI Miss. Missouri State US-MO 29 MO Mo. Montana State US-MT 30 MT Mont. Nebraska State US-NE 31 NE NB Nebr. Neb. Nevada State US-NV 32 NV Nev. New Hampshire State US-NH 33 NH N.H. New Jersey State US-NJ 34 NJ N.J. N. Jersey[4] New Mexico State US-NM 35 NM N. Mex. N.M. New M., New Mex. New York State US-NY 36 NY N.Y. N. York[4] North Carolina State US-NC 37 NC N.C. N. Car. North Dakota State US-ND 38 ND N. Dak. N.D. Ohio State US-OH 39 OH Ohio O.,[5] Oh.[3] Oklahoma State US-OK 40 OK Okla. Oregon State US-OR 41 OR Oreg. Ore. Or. Pennsylvania State US-PA 42 PA Pa. Penn.,[3] Penna.[6] Rhode Island State US-RI 44 RI R.I. R.I. & P.P. South Carolina State US-SC 45 SC S.C. S. Car. South Dakota State US-SD 46 SD S. Dak. S.D. SoDak Tennessee State US-TN 47 TN Tenn. Texas State US-TX 48 TX Tex. Texas Tex. Utah State US-UT 49 UT Utah Ut.[3] Vermont State US-VT 50 VT Vt. Verm.[7] Virginia State US-VA 51 VA Va. Virg. Washington State US-WA 53 WA WN Wash. Wn.[8] West Virginia State US-WV 54 WV W. Va. W.Va. W. Va. W.V., W. Virg. Wisconsin State US-WI 55 WI WS Wis. Wisc. Wyoming State US-WY 56 WY Wyo. American Samoa Insular area (Territory) ASASM016US-AS 60 AS A.S. Guam Insular area (Territory) GUGUM316US-GU 66 GU Guam Guam Northern Mariana Islands Insular area (Commonwealth) MPMNP580US-MP 69 MP CM M.P. N. Mar. I. CNMI[9] Puerto Rico Insular area (Commonwealth) PRPRI630US-PR 72 PR P.R. P.R. U.S. Virgin Islands Insular area (Territory) VIVIR850US-VI 78 VI V.I. V.I. U.S.V.I. U.S. Minor Outlying Islands Insular areas UMUMI581US-UM 74 UM[10] Baker Island Island UM-81 81 XB[11] Howland Island Island UM-84 84 XH[11] Jarvis Island Island UM-86 86 XQ[11] Johnston Atoll Atoll UM-67 67 XU[11] Kingman Reef Atoll UM-89 89 XM[11] Midway Atoll Atoll UM-71 71 QM[11] Nassa Island Island UM-76 76 XV[11] Palmyra Atoll[c] Atoll[c] UM-95 95 XL[11] Wake Island Atoll UM-79 79 QW[11] Marshall Islands Freely associated state MHMHL584 68 MH Micronesia Freely associated state FMFSM583 64 FM Palau Freely associated state PWPLW585 70 PW U.S. Armed Forces – Americas[d] US military mail code(not in the ANSI standard) AA U.S. Armed Forces – Europe[e] US military mail code(not in the ANSI standard) AE U.S. Armed Forces – Pacific[f] US military mail code(not in the ANSI standard) AP Nebraska Obsolete postal code[g] NB Northern Mariana Islands Obsolete postal code[h] CM Panama Canal Zone Obsolete postal code PZPCZ594 CZ Philippine Islands Obsolete postal code PHPHL608[12] PI Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands Obsolete postal code PCPCI582 TT History[edit]As early as October 1831, the United States Postal Service recognized common abbreviations for states and territories. However, they accepted these abbreviations only because of their popularity, preferring that patrons spell names out in full to oid confusion.[5]
The traditional abbreviations for U.S. states and territories, widely used in mailing addresses prior to the introduction of two-letter U.S. postal abbreviations, are still commonly used for other purposes (such as legal citation), and are still recognized (though discouraged) by the Postal Service.[13]
Modern two-letter abbreviated codes for the states and territories originated in October 1963, with the issuance of Publication 59: Abbreviations for Use with ZIP Code, three months after the Post Office introduced ZIP codes in July 1963. The purpose, rather than to standardize state abbreviations per se, was to make room in a line of no more than 23 characters for the city, the state, and the ZIP code.[5]
Since 1963, only one state abbreviation has changed. Originally Nebraska was "NB"; but, in November 1969, the Post Office changed it to "NE" to oid confusion with New Brunswick in Canada.[5]
Prior to 1987, when the U.S. Secretary of Commerce approved the two-letter codes for use in government documents,[14] the United States Government Printing Office (GPO) suggested its own set of abbreviations, with some states left unabbreviated. Today, the GPO supports United States Postal Service standard.[15]
Current use of traditional abbreviations[edit]Legal citation manuals, such as The Bluebook and The ALWD Citation Manual, typically use the "traditional abbreviations" or variants thereof.
Codes for states and territories[edit] ISO standard 3166[edit] Main article: ISO 3166-2:USISO 3166-2:US is the entry for the United States in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions (e.g., provinces or states) of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ANSI standard INCITS 38:2009[edit]The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) established alphabetic and numeric codes for each state and outlying areas in ANSI standard INCITS 38:2009. ANSI standard INCITS 38:2009 replaced the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) standards FIPS 5-2, FIPS 6-4, and FIPS 10-4. The ANSI alphabetic state code is the same as the USPS state code except for U.S. Military Mail locations, which he USPS codes ("AA", "AE", "AP") but no ANSI code.
Postal codes[edit]The United States Postal Service (USPS) has established a set of uppercase abbreviations to help process mail with optical character recognition and other automated equipment.[16] There are also official USPS abbreviations for other parts of the address, such as street designators (street, enue, road, etc.).
These two-letter codes are distinguished from traditional abbreviations such as Calif., Fla., or Tex. The Associated Press Stylebook states that in contexts other than mailing addresses, the traditional state abbreviations should be used.[17] However, the Chicago Manual of Style now recommends use of the uppercase two-letter abbreviations, with the traditional forms as an option.[18]
The postal abbreviation is the same as the ISO 3166-2 subdivision code for each of the fifty states.
These codes do not overlap with the 13 Canadian subnational postal abbreviations. The code for Nebraska changed from NB to NE in November 1969 to oid a conflict with New Brunswick.[5] Canada likewise chose MB for Manitoba to prevent conflict with either Massachusetts (MA), Michigan (MI), Minnesota (MN), Missouri (MO), or Montana (MT).
Coast Guard vessel prefixes[edit]The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) uses a set of two-letter prefixes for vessel numbers;[19] 39 states and the District of Columbia he the same USPS and USCG abbreviations. USCG prefixes he also been established for five outlying territories; all are the same as the USPS abbreviations except the Mariana Islands. The twelve cases where USPS and USCG abbreviations differ are listed below and marked in bold red in the table above; they include three inland states with a small Coast Guard contingent. These twelve abbreviations were changed to oid conflicting with the ISO 3166 two-digit country codes.
Mismatched USPS and USCG state codes State USPS Code USCG Code California CA CF Colorado CO CL Delaware DE DL Hawaii HI HA Kansas KS KA Michigan MI MC Mississippi MS MI Massachusetts MA MS Nebraska NE NB Washington WA WN Wisconsin WI WS Mariana Islands MP CM See also[edit] Australian abbreviation system Canadian abbreviation system ISO 3166-2:US United States Postal Service address formatting information Notes[edit] ^ "Ioa." or (more typically) "IOA" found in Iowa post office cancellations from the 1870s. ^ Not to be confused with Kent, England ^ a b The Palmyra Atoll is an unorganized incorporated territory of the United States that was previously a part of the Territory of Hawaii. ^ The U.S. Armed Forces – Americas include the Caribbean Sea and exclude the United States, Canada, and Greenland. ^ The U.S. Armed Forces – Europe include the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, Canada, Greenland, Africa, and Southwest Asia. ^ The U.S. Armed Forces – Pacific include the Indian Ocean, Oceania, and Asia except Southwest Asia. ^ Former USPS code "NB" for Nebraska is now obsolete; it was changed to NE in November 1969 to oid confusion with New Brunswick, Canada. ^ Former USPS code "CM" for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is now obsolete; it was changed to MP in 1988 to match ISO 3166-1. References[edit] ^ "AP Style – Purdue OWL – Purdue University". owl.purdue.edu. Retrieved August 1, 2024. ^ "Basic Legal Citation". www.law.cornell.edu. Retrieved June 13, 2025. ^ a b c d e f g Consolidated Listing of FAA Certificated Repair Stations. U.S. Dept. of Transportation. December 9, 1970. Retrieved March 12, 2020. ^ a b c Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the Ny of the United States. Washington, D.C.: [U.S.] Government Printing Office. January 1, 1863. Retrieved March 12, 2020. ^ a b c d e "USPS Postal History: State Abbreviations" (PDF). USPS. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 9, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2011.. See [1] for a live page with the same table in HTML form. ^ Arthur, Andy. "Penna. the Abbreviation". AndyArthur.org. Retrieved February 15, 2021. ^ Fisher, Richard S. (1857). A new and complete statistical gazetteer of the United States of America. J. H. Colton and Company. Retrieved March 12, 2020. ^ "search on WN". Digitum.washingtonhistory.org. Retrieved February 26, 2018. ^ "Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands". www.doi.gov. Retrieved January 7, 2018. ^ "United States of America Minor Outlying Islands" (PDF). Universal Postal Union. March 2005. Retrieved February 23, 2024. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Geopolitical Entities, Names, and Codes Standard". NSG Standards Registry. Retrieved February 6, 2017. ^ "Philippine diplomats will now use PH or PHL instead of RP". GMA News. October 28, 2010. Retrieved March 17, 2013. ^ "USPS Postal News, "It's Okay to Say 'I Don't Know,' So Long As You Find Out!" January 9, 2009". About.usps.com. January 9, 2009. Retrieved February 26, 2018. ^ Hawes, Kristi G. (May 28, 1987). "Information Technology Laboratory". NIST. Archived from the original on July 5, 2009. Retrieved April 21, 2009. ^ U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual, 30th Edition [2] Accessed April 21, 2009. ^ United States Postal Service (June 2020). "Appendix B. Two–Letter State and Possession Abbreviations. Postal Addressing Standards". Postal Explorer. Retrieved January 21, 2020. ^ Robbins, Sonia J. (January 4, 2004). "State Abbreviations". New York University. Archived from the original on April 27, 2009. ^ Harper, Russell Did, ed. (2017) [1906]. "10.27 Abbreviations for US states and territories". The Chicago manual of style (17th ed.). The University of Chicago Press. doi:10.7208/cmos17. ISBN 9780226287058. LCCN 2017020712. In bibliographies, tabular matter, lists, and mailing addresses, they are usually abbreviated. In all such contexts, Chicago prefers the two-letter postal codes to the conventional abbreviations. ^ 33 CFR 173, App. A External links[edit] USPS acronyms and abbreviations U.S. Census Bureau vteUnited States Postal ServiceOrganizations American Letter Mail Company American Postal Workers Union Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service Bureau of Transportation Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees National Association of Letter Carriers National Association of Presort Mailers National Postal Mail Handlers Union National Rural Letter Carriers' Association Postal Regulatory Commission Postal Transportation Service PostalWatch Incorporated United States Postal Inspection Service United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General Systems Address Management System Advanced Facer-Canceler System Coding Accuracy Support System Delivery Bar Code Sorter Flats Sequencing System Locatable Address Conversion System United States Postal Sings System Services Click-N-Ship Express mail in the United States National Change Of Address Permit mail Permit Reply Mail Postal notes Railway Mail Service Registered mail Special Delivery Special handling Facilities Air mail facility Boat railway post office Community post office Dead letter office Highway post office J. 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