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

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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

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

History

As early as October 1831, the United States Post Office 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 avoid confusion.

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.

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.

Since 1963, only one state abbreviation has changed. Originally Nebraska was "NB"; but, in November 1969, the Post Office changed it to "NE" to avoid confusion with New Brunswick in Canada.

Prior to 1987, when the U.S. Secretary of Commerce approved the two-letter codes for use in government documents, 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.

Current use of traditional abbreviations

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

ISO standard 3166

ANSI standard INCITS 38:2009

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. Minor Outlying Islands, which have an ANSI code "UM" but no USPS code—and U.S. Military Mail locations, which have USPS codes ("AA", "AE", "AP") but no ANSI code.

Postal codes

Washington Oregon California Hawaii Alaska Idaho Vermont New Hampshire Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut New Jersey Delaware Maryland D.C. Montana North Dakota South Dakota Nevada Utah Arizona Wyoming Colorado New Mexico Nebraska Kansas Oklahoma Texas Minnesota Iowa Missouri Arkansas Louisiana Michigan Wisconsin Illinois Indiana Ohio West Virginia Kentucky Tennessee Mississippi Alabama Georgia Florida South Carolina North Carolina Virginia Maryland Maryland District of Columbia Delaware New York Pennsylvania New Jersey Connecticut Rhode Island Massachusetts New Hampshire Vermont MaineUS state abbrev map.png

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. There are also official USPS abbreviations for other parts of the address, such as street designators (street, avenue, 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. However, the Chicago Manual of Style now recommends use of the uppercase two-letter abbreviations, with the traditional forms as an option.

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 avoid a conflict with New Brunswick. 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

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) uses a set of two-letter prefixes for vessel numbers; 39 states and the District of Columbia have the same USPS and USCG abbreviations. USCG prefixes have 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 avoid conflicting with the ISO 3166 two-digit country codes.

Mismatches between USPS and USCG codes
California Colorado Delaware Hawaii Kansas Michigan Mississippi Massachusetts Nebraska Washington Wisconsin Mariana Islands
USPS CA CO DE HI KS MI MS MA NE WA WI MP
USCG CF CL DL HA KA MC MI MS NB WN WS CM

See also

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