List of U.S. states by traditional abbreviation

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Abbreviations and codes for the states and possessions of the United States are used for postal addresses, data processing, general abbreviations and other purposes.

Contents 1 List 2 Traditional abbreviations 3 Postal abbreviations 3.1 Methodology 4 Other abbreviations and codes 5 References 6 External links

[edit] List

State or Territory	GPO	AP	Other (status)	FIPS	USPS
Alabama	Ala.	Ala.		01	AL
Alaska	Alaska	Alaska	Alas.	02	AK
Arizona	Ariz.	Ariz.		04	AZ
Arkansas	Ark.	Ark.	A.R.	05	AR
California	Calif.	Calif.	Cal., CF (USCG)	06	CA
Colorado	Colo.	Colo.	Col., CL (USCG)	08	CO
Connecticut	Conn.	Conn.		09	CT
Delaware	Del.	Del.	DL (USCG)	10	DE
District of Columbia	D.C.	D.C.	(Federal district)	11	DC
Florida	Fla.	Fla.	Flor.	12	FL
Georgia	Ga.	Ga.		13	GA
Hawaii	Hawaii	Hawaii	H.I., HA (USCG)	15	HI
Idaho	Idaho	Idaho	Id. or Ida.	16	ID
Illinois	Ill.	Ill.	Ills.	17	IL
Indiana	Ind.	Ind.		18	IN
Iowa	Iowa	Iowa	Ia.	19	IA
Kansas	Kans.	Kan.	KA (USCG)	20	KS
Kentucky	Ky.	Ky.	Ken. or Kent.	21	KY
Louisiana	La.	La.		22	LA
Maine	Maine	Maine	Me.	23	ME
Maryland	Md.	Md.		24	MD
Massachusetts	Mass.	Mass.	MS (USCG)	25	MA
Michigan	Mich.	Mich.	MC (USCG)	26	MI
Minnesota	Minn.	Minn.		27	MN
Mississippi	Miss.	Miss.	MI (USCG)	28	MS
Missouri	Mo.	Mo.		29	MO
Montana	Mont.	Mont.		30	MT
Nebraska	Nebr.	Neb.	NB (USCG)	31	NE
Nevada	Nev.	Nev.		32	NV
New Hampshire	N.H.	N.H.		33	NH
New Jersey	N.J.	N.J.		34	NJ
New Mexico	N. Mex.	N.M.	New M.	35	NM
New York	N.Y.	N.Y.	N. York	36	NY
North Carolina	N.C.	N.C.	N. Car.	37	NC
North Dakota	N. Dak.	N.D.		38	ND
Ohio	Ohio	Ohio	O.	39	OH
Oklahoma	Okla.	Okla.		40	OK
Oregon	Oreg.	Ore.		41	OR
Pennsylvania	Pa.	Pa.	Penn. or Penna.	42	PA
Rhode Island	R.I.	R.I.		44	RI
South Carolina	S.C.	S.C.	S. Car.	45	SC
South Dakota	S. Dak.	S.D.		46	SD
Tennessee	Tenn.	Tenn.		47	TN
Texas	Tex.	Texas		48	TX
Utah	Utah	Utah		49	UT
Vermont	Vt.	Vt.		50	VT
Virginia	Va.	Va.		51	VA
Washington	Wash.	Wash.	Wn., WN (USCG)	53	WA
West Virginia	W. Va.	W.Va.	W.V.	54	WV
Wisconsin	Wis.	Wis.	Wisc., WS (USCG)	55	WI
Wyoming	Wyo.	Wyo.		56	WY
American Samoa	A.S.		(Insular area) AS (USCG)	60	AS
Guam	Guam		(Insular area) GU (USCG)	66	GU
Northern Mariana Islands	M.P.		(Insular area) CM (USCG)	69	MP
Puerto Rico	P.R.		(Insular area) PR (USCG)	72	PR
Virgin Islands	V.I.		(Insular area) U.S.V.I., VI (USCG)	78	VI
U.S. Minor Outlying Islands			(Insular area) 'UM' is the FIPS alphabetic code for the entire group. Each individual has a separate numeric FIPS state code listed here. 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)
Federated States of Micronesia			(Freely associated state)	64	FM
Marshall Islands			(Freely associated state)	68	MH
Palau			(Freely associated state)	70	PW
Armed Forces Americas (except Canada)			(US Military mail)		AA
Armed Forces - Europe - Canada - Middle East - Africa			(US Military mail)		AE
Armed Forces Pacific			(US Military mail)		AP
Canal Zone	C.Z.		(Obsolete code)		CZ
Philippine Islands			(Obsolete code)		PI
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands			(Obsolete code)		TT
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands			(Obsolete code) Changed to MP in 1988 to match ISO 3166-1 and FIPS Alpha Code.		CM

[edit] Traditional abbreviations

The traditional abbreviations for U.S. states and territories were widely used in mailing addresses prior to the introduction of two-letter U.S. postal abbreviations. The traditional abbreviations are still commonly used for other purposes (such as legal citation), and are still recognized (though discouraged) by the postal service.

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 a specific set of abbreviations, with some states being left unabbreviated.

In addition, the Associated Press Stylebook, the usage guide for most United States newspapers, counsels the use of abbreviations for most state names, when appended to a city name (for example, "Miami, Fla."). AP suggests spelling out "Alaska," "Hawaii," and all state names with five or fewer letters; and, unlike the GPO, AP suggests spelling out the names of all non-state territories, with the exception of the District of Columbia (D.C.). Legal citation manuals, such as the Bluebook and ALWD Citation Manual, typically use these "traditional abbreviations" as well.

[edit] Postal abbreviations

The United States Postal Service has established a set of abbreviations to help 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.). Both the Chicago Manual of Style and the Associated Press Stylebook state that in contexts other than mailing addresses, the traditional state abbreviations should be used^[2].

The postal abbreviation is same as ISO 3166-2 subdivision code for all fifty states.

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

[edit] 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:

• Each of the 10 two-word state names is abbreviated with the initial of each word:

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

• 19 states' names are each abbreviated with 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' names are each abbreviated with the initial and final letter of the state's name:

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

• 9 states' names are each abbreviated with the initial and another letter from the state's name, often the second consonant:

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

* These three states (California, Colorado, Delaware) have the same second letter and last letter. Missouri, Mississippi, and Tennessee also match this pattern, but use another letter in their abbreviation.

[edit] Other abbreviations and codes

There is a FIPS numeric code and alphabetic code established for each state and many of the outlying areas. In almost all cases, the FIPS alphabetic code is the same as the USPS code.

The U.S. Coast Guard uses a set of 2-letter prefixes for vessel numbers^[3]; these are not shown in the table for the 39 states and District of Columbia where it is the same as the USPS abbreviation. Prefixes have also been established for five outlying territories, all of which are listed in the table, though it is only different from the USPS code for the 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

[edit] References

1. ^ United States Postal Service Publication 28 - Postal Addressing Standards. Accessed February 4, 2007.
2. ^ State Abbreviations
3. ^ 33 C.F.R. Pt. 173, App. A

[edit] External links

• The Riverside Publishing Company. (1984). Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary. ISBN 0-395-33957-X
• Chicago Manual of Style and AP Style Manual state abbreviations
• FIPS State Codes of the US and Outlying Areas
• search on WN
• Official addressing instructions and abbreviations from the USPS (including abbreviations for street addresses)

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