Postal abbreviations for states of the United States

The following article contains a list of abbreviations for individual states in the United States , by the United States Postal Service are used . The abbreviations are intended to enable simplified and accelerated mail delivery (including through automated optical address recognition).

Postal marking in alphabetical listing. The postal code corresponds to the ISO 3166-2 coding for all 50 countries .

abbreviation FIPS code State AL 01 Alabama AK 02 Alaska AZ 04 Arizona AR 05 Arkansas CA 06 California CO 08 Colorado CT 09 Connecticut DE 10 Delaware FL 12 Florida GA 13 Georgia HI 15th Hawaii ID 16 Idaho IL 17th Illinois IN 18th Indiana IA 19th Iowa KS 20th Kansas KY 21st Kentucky

abbreviation FIPS code State LA 22nd Louisiana ME 23 Maine MD 24 Maryland MA 25th Massachusetts MI 26th Michigan MN 27 Minnesota MS 28 Mississippi MO 29 Missouri MT 30th Montana NE 31 Nebraska NV 32 Nevada NH 33 New Hampshire NJ 34 New Jersey NM 35 New Mexico NY 36 new York NC 37 North Carolina ND 38 North Dakota

abbreviation FIPS code State OH 39 Ohio OK 40 Oklahoma OR 41 Oregon PA 42 Pennsylvania RI 44 Rhode Island SC 45 South carolina SD 46 South Dakota TN 47 Tennessee TX 48 Texas UT 49 Utah VT 50 Vermont VA 51 Virginia WA 53 Washington WV 54 West Virginia WI 55 Wisconsin WY 56 Wyoming

Other codings

Federal District

abbreviation	FIPS code	area
DC	11	District of Columbia

Islands in the Pacific and the Caribbean

abbreviation	FIPS code	area
AS	60	American Samoa
GU	66	Guam
MP	69	Northern Mariana Islands
PR	72	Puerto Rico
VI	78	American Virgin Islands
AROUND		United States Minor Outlying Islands UM is the FIPS code. The US Postal Service does not use the term US Minor Outlying Islands, however, as mail to these islands is delivered via other areas (i.e. PR, HI, AA or AP).

Free Associated States

abbreviation	FIPS code	area
FM	64	Federated States of Micronesia
MH	68	Marshall Islands
PW	70	Palau

US military mail

abbreviation	FIPS code	area
AA		Armed Forces Americas (except Canada)
AE		Armed Forces Europe Armed Forces Canada Armed Forces Middle East Armed Forces Africa
AP		Armed Forces Pacific

Older, now invalid codes

abbreviation	FIPS code	area
CM		Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands changed to MP in 1988
CZ		Panama Canal Zone
TT		Pacific Islands Trust Territory
PI		Philippines

Addressing example

JOHN DOE
359 OAK LANE
GIBBSBORO, NJ 08026

Creation of the abbreviations

50 states:

• 10 states abbreviated by the first two letters of the two-word state name:

NC, ND, NH, NJ, NM, NY, RI, SC, SD, WV

• 19 states which are abbreviated by the first two letters of the name:

AL, AR, CA CO, DE, FL, ID, IL, IN, MA, MI, NE, OH, OK, OR, UT, WA, WI, WY

• 15 states abbreviated by the first and last letters of the name:

CA, CO, CT, DE, GA, HI, IA, KS, KY, LA, MD, ME, PA, VA, VT

• 9 states in which the second letter of the abbreviation corresponds neither to the second nor to the last of the state name:

AK, AZ, MN, MO, MS, MT, NV, TN, TX

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} 6 states (C a liforni a , C o lorad o , D e lawar e , M i ssour i , M i ssissipp i , T e nnesse e ) have the same second and last letter

See also

• ZIP Code (US Postal Codes)
• ISO 3166-2 code
• Postal abbreviations for provinces and territories of Canada

Individual evidence

1. ↑ United States Postal Service Publication 28 - Postal Addressing Standards.

Web links

• Official abbreviations for states, street names, and parts of buildings of the United States Postal Service