List of U.S. state and territory abbreviations facts for kids

The United States uses different short codes and abbreviations for its states, territories, and other areas. These codes help with things like sending mail, organizing computer data, and using short forms in writing. They make it easier to identify places quickly.

Understanding the Codes and Abbreviations

This section helps you understand the different types of codes and abbreviations used for U.S. states, federal districts, territories, and other regions. It also includes codes for three countries that have special agreements with the U.S.

Here's what each code type means:

• ISO: These are international codes from ISO 3166. They include 2-letter, 3-letter, and 3-digit codes.
• ANSI: These are 2-letter and 2-digit codes from the American National Standards Institute.
• USPS: These are the 2-letter codes used by the United States Postal Service for mailing addresses.
• USCG: These are 2-letter codes used by the United States Coast Guard. You'll see some differences between ANSI and USCG codes marked in red.

And here are the types of abbreviations:

• GPO: These are older, official abbreviations from the United States Government Publishing Office.
• AP: These abbreviations come from the AP Stylebook, which is a guide for writers and journalists. Differences between GPO and AP are also marked in red.

Codes and abbreviations for U.S. states, federal district, territories, and other regions

Name and status of region		ISO	ANSI		USPS	USCG	GPO	AP	Other abbreviations
United States of America	Federal state	US USA 840	US	00			U.S.	U.S.	U.S.A.
Alabama	State	US-AL	AL	01	AL	AL	Ala.	Ala.
Alaska	State	US-AK	AK	02	AK	AK	Alaska	Alaska	Ak.
Arizona	State	US-AZ	AZ	04	AZ	AZ	Ariz.	Ariz.
Arkansas	State	US-AR	AR	05	AR	AR	Ark.	Ark.
California	State	US-CA	CA	06	CA	CF	Calif.	Calif.	Cal.
Colorado	State	US-CO	CO	08	CO	CL	Colo.	Colo.
Connecticut	State	US-CT	CT	09	CT	CT	Conn.	Conn.
Delaware	State	US-DE	DE	10	DE	DL	Del.	Del.
District of Columbia	Federal district	US-DC	DC	11	DC	DC	D.C.	D.C.	Dis. Col.
Florida	State	US-FL	FL	12	FL	FL	Fla.	Fla.
Georgia	State	US-GA	GA	13	GA	GA	Ga.	Ga.	Geo.
Hawaii	State	US-HI	HI	15	HI	HA	Hawaii	Hawaii	Hi.; Haw.
Idaho	State	US-ID	ID	16	ID	ID	Idaho	Idaho	Ida.
Illinois	State	US-IL	IL	17	IL	IL	Ill.	Ill.
Indiana	State	US-IN	IN	18	IN	IN	Ind.	Ind.
Iowa	State	US-IA	IA	19	IA	IA	Iowa	Iowa	Ioa.
Kansas	State	US-KS	KS	20	KS	KA	Kans.	Kan.	Ka.
Kentucky	State	US-KY	KY	21	KY	KY	Ky.	Ky.	Ken., Kent.
Louisiana	State	US-LA	LA	22	LA	LA	La.	La.
Maine	State	US-ME	ME	23	ME	ME	Maine	Maine
Maryland	State	US-MD	MD	24	MD	MD	Md.	Md.	Mar., Mary.
Massachusetts	State	US-MA	MA	25	MA	MS	Mass.	Mass.
Michigan	State	US-MI	MI	26	MI	MC	Mich.	Mich.
Minnesota	State	US-MN	MN	27	MN	MN	Minn.	Minn.
Mississippi	State	US-MS	MS	28	MS	MI	Miss.	Miss.
Missouri	State	US-MO	MO	29	MO	MO	Mo.	Mo.
Montana	State	US-MT	MT	30	MT	MT	Mont.	Mont.
Nebraska	State	US-NE	NE	31	NE	NB	Nebr.	Neb.
Nevada	State	US-NV	NV	32	NV	NV	Nev.	Nev.
New Hampshire	State	US-NH	NH	33	NH	NH	N.H.	N.H.
New Jersey	State	US-NJ	NJ	34	NJ	NJ	N.J.	N.J.	N. Jersey
New Mexico	State	US-NM	NM	35	NM	NM	N. Mex.	N.M.	New M., New Mex.
New York	State	US-NY	NY	36	NY	NY	N.Y.	N.Y.	N. York
North Carolina	State	US-NC	NC	37	NC	NC	N.C.	N.C.	N. Car.
North Dakota	State	US-ND	ND	38	ND	ND	N. Dak.	N.D.
Ohio	State	US-OH	OH	39	OH	OH	Ohio	Ohio	O., Oh.
Oklahoma	State	US-OK	OK	40	OK	OK	Okla.	Okla.
Oregon	State	US-OR	OR	41	OR	OR	Oreg.	Ore.
Pennsylvania	State	US-PA	PA	42	PA	PA	Pa.	Pa.	Penn., Penna.
Rhode Island	State	US-RI	RI	44	RI	RI	R.I.	R.I.	R.I. & P.P.
South Carolina	State	US-SC	SC	45	SC	SC	S.C.	S.C.	S. Car.
South Dakota	State	US-SD	SD	46	SD	SD	S. Dak.	S.D.	SoDak
Tennessee	State	US-TN	TN	47	TN	TN	Tenn.	Tenn.
Texas	State	US-TX	TX	48	TX	TX	Tex.	Texas
Utah	State	US-UT	UT	49	UT	UT	Utah	Utah	Ut.
Vermont	State	US-VT	VT	50	VT	VT	Vt.	Vt.	Verm.
Virginia	State	US-VA	VA	51	VA	VA	Va.	Va.	Virg.
Washington	State	US-WA	WA	53	WA	WN	Wash.	Wash.	Wn.
West Virginia	State	US-WV	WV	54	WV	WV	W. Va.	W.Va.	W.V., W. Virg.
Wisconsin	State	US-WI	WI	55	WI	WS	Wis.	Wis.	Wisc.
Wyoming	State	US-WY	WY	56	WY	WY	Wyo.	Wyo.
American Samoa	Insular area (Territory)	AS ASM 016 US-AS	AS	60	AS	AS	A.S.
Guam	Insular area (Territory)	GU GUM 316 US-GU	GU	66	GU	GU	Guam
Northern Mariana Islands	Insular area (Commonwealth)	MP MNP 580 US-MP	MP	69	MP	CM	M.P.		CNMI
Puerto Rico	Insular area (Commonwealth)	PR PRI 630 US-PR	PR	72	PR	PR	P.R.
U.S. Virgin Islands	Insular area (Territory)	VI VIR 850 US-VI	VI	78	VI	VI	V.I.		U.S.V.I.
U.S. Minor Outlying Islands	Insular areas	UM UMI 581 US-UM	UM	74	UM
Baker Island	Island	UM-81		81					XB
Howland Island	Island	UM-84		84					XH
Jarvis Island	Island	UM-86		86					XQ
Johnston Atoll	Atoll	UM-67		67					XU
Kingman Reef	Atoll	UM-89		89					XM
Midway Islands	Atoll	UM-71		71					QM
Navassa Island	Island	UM-76		76					XV
Palmyra Atoll	Atoll	UM-95		95					XL
Wake Island	Atoll	UM-79		79					QW
Marshall Islands	Freely associated state	MH MHL 584	MH	68	MH
Micronesia	Freely associated state	FM FSM 583	FM	64	FM
Palau	Freely associated state	PW PLW 585	PW	70	PW
U.S. Armed Forces – Americas	US military mail code				AA
U.S. Armed Forces – Europe	US military mail code				AE
U.S. Armed Forces – Pacific	US military mail code				AP
Nebraska	Obsolete postal code				NB
Northern Mariana Islands	Obsolete postal code				CM
Panama Canal Zone	Obsolete postal code	PZ PCZ 594			CZ
Philippine Islands	Obsolete postal code	PH PHL 608			PI
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands	Obsolete postal code	PC PCI 582			TT

History of Abbreviations

Long ago, in 1831, the United States Postal Service (USPS) knew people used short forms for states. But they preferred full names to avoid confusion.

The short, two-letter codes we use today for states and territories started in October 1963. This happened when the Post Office introduced ZIP codes. The main goal was to make sure there was enough space on a mail line for the city, state, and ZIP code. This line could only be 23 characters long.

Since 1963, only one state abbreviation has changed. Nebraska was first "NB." But in 1969, it changed to "NE." This was to prevent mix-ups with New Brunswick in Canada.

Before 1987, the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) had its own set of abbreviations. Some states were not shortened at all. Today, the GPO uses the same standard codes as the USPS.

Traditional Abbreviations Today

Older, longer abbreviations like "Calif." for California are still used. You might see them in legal documents or certain writing styles. However, for mailing, the two-letter USPS codes are always preferred.

Different Types of Codes

ISO Standard 3166

The ISO 3166 standard provides international codes for countries and their parts. For the U.S. states and territories, these codes help identify them globally.

ANSI Standard INCITS 38:2009

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) created codes for states and territories. These codes are mostly the same as the USPS codes. For example, "UM" is the ANSI code for U.S. Minor Outlying Islands. Military mail locations, like "AA" for Americas, have USPS codes but no ANSI codes.

Postal Codes for Mail

Map showing U.S. state abbreviations.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) uses special two-letter codes. These codes help machines sort mail quickly. There are also USPS abbreviations for other parts of an address, like "St" for street.

These two-letter codes are different from older, longer abbreviations. For example, "CA" is the postal code for California, while "Calif." is an older, traditional abbreviation. The AP Stylebook suggests using traditional abbreviations in most writing. But for mailing addresses, always use the short two-letter postal codes.

The postal abbreviation for each state is the same as its ISO 3166-2 subdivision code. These U.S. codes do not clash with the 13 Canadian subnational postal abbreviations. For example, Nebraska's code changed to "NE" to avoid confusion with New Brunswick, Canada.

Coast Guard Vessel Prefixes

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) uses two-letter codes for boat numbers. Most of these codes are the same as the USPS abbreviations. However, 12 codes are different. These differences help avoid confusion with international country codes.

Here are the states and territories where USPS and USCG codes are different:

See also

• Australian abbreviation system
• Canadian abbreviation system
• ISO 3166-2:US
• United States Postal Service address formatting information