United States postal abbreviations

The following is a list of abbreviations used by the United States Postal Service. They are used to help the postal service process mail with optical character recognition and other automated equipment.[1] There are also official USPS abbreviations for other parts of the address, such as street designators (street, avenue, road, etc.).

These postal abbreviations are distinguished from traditional abbreviations for U.S. States (such as Calif., Fla., or Tex.). In contexts other than mailing addresses, the traditional state abbreviations should be used[2].

Postal codes alphabetized by state (not postal code). Postal abbreviation is same as ISO 3166-2 subdivision code for all fifty states.

State Abbr. FIPS State CodeState AL 01 AlabamaAK 02 AlaskaAZ 04 ArizonaAR 05 ArkansasCA 06 CaliforniaCO 08 ColoradoCT 09 ConnecticutDE 10 DelawareFL 12 FloridaGA 13 GeorgiaHI 15 HawaiiID 16 IdahoIL 17 IllinoisIN 18 IndianaIA 19 IowaKS 20 KansasKY 21 KentuckyState Abbr. FIPS State Code State LA 22 LouisianaME 23 MaineMD 24 MarylandMA 25 MassachusettsMI 26 MichiganMN 27 MinnesotaMS 28 Mississippi [3]MO 29 MissouriMT 30 MontanaNE 31 NebraskaNV 32 NevadaNH 33 New HampshireNJ 34 New JerseyNM 35 New MexicoNY 36 New YorkNC 37 North CarolinaND 38 North Dakota

State Abbr. FIPS State Code State OH 39 OhioOK 40 OklahomaOR 41 OregonPA 42 PennsylvaniaRI 44 Rhode IslandSC 45 South CarolinaSD 46 South DakotaTN 47 TennesseeTX 48 TexasUT 49 UtahVT 50 VermontVA 51 VirginiaWA 53 WashingtonWV 54 West VirginiaWI 55 WisconsinWY 56 Wyoming

These codes do not overlap with the thirteen Canadian subnational postal abbreviations.

1 Other codes
2 Example of address
3 Methodology
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Other codes

Federal districts

Abbreviation FIPS State CodeLocation DC 11 District of Columbia

Insular areas

Abbreviation FIPS State CodeLocation AS 60 American SamoaGU 66 GuamMP 69 Northern Mariana IslandsPR 72 Puerto RicoVI 78 U.S. Virgin IslandsUM (see herefor each island) U.S. Minor Outlying IslandsUM is the FIPS alphabetic code. The U.S. Postal Service does not employ the term U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, as mail for any of these islands is routed indirectly (use PR, HI, AA or AP).

Freely associated states

Abbreviation FIPS State Code Freely associated stateFM 64 Federated States of MicronesiaMH 68 Marshall IslandsPW 70 Palau

Armed forces

For more details on this topic, see military mail.

Abbreviation FIPS State CodeLocation AA Armed Forces Americas (except Canada) AE Armed Forces Europe (covers all USARAEUR)
Armed Forces Canada
Armed Forces Middle East
Armed Forces Africa AP Armed Forces Pacific

Obsolete codes

Abbreviation FIPS State CodeLocation CM Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islandschanged to MP in 1988 to match ISO 3166-1 and FIPS Alpha Code. CZ Canal ZoneTT Trust Territory of the Pacific IslandsPI Philippine Islands

Example of address

JOHN DOE
359 OAK LN
GIBBSBORO NJ 08026

Adding the line "UNITED STATES" to the bottom of the address is necessary if the envelope or package is being mailed from outside the United States. In this case, international postage rates will apply. It is not necessary if the item is being mailed domestically via the United States Postal Service or military mail service (including overseas locations which pay domestic mail rates). This includes all of the areas served by the postal codes mentioned above, except those noted as obsolete. ZIP codes are assigned to every area served by the USPS.

Methodology

For each state, the initial letter of the abbreviation is the initial letter of the state's name. The second letter of each abbreviation fits at least one of the following patterns: