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 used2.
Postal codes alphabetized by state (not postal code). 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.
Other codes
Federal districts
Insular areas
Freely associated states
Armed forces
-
| Abbreviation |
FIPS State Code |
Location |
| 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
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:
- 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.
See also
References
External links
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