Last updated on January 4th, 2022
United States postal abbreviations for states and territories.
Did you know? For the most part, these state abbreviations have stayed the same since 1963. One exception is Nebraska, which changed its abbreviation from NB to NE in 1967 to avoid confusion with the Canadian province New Brunswick.
Also included is a fact for each state. You can click on the abbreviation to explore facts and trivia about the state.
| Serial | State | USPS abbreviation | Traditional abbreviation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Alabama (Mary Anderson, born in Greene County, Alabama, is credited with the invention of windshield wipers.) | AL | Ala. |
| 2. | Alaska (Alaska is home to the largest remaining population of gray wolves in the United States.) | AK | Alaska |
| 3. | Arizona (Phoenix, Arizona is the hottest city in the U.S.) | AZ | Ariz. |
| 4. | Arkansas (Did you know that the first WalMart was opened in 1962 by Sam Walton in Rogers, Arkansas?) | AR | Ark. |
| 5. | California (California’s Death Valley is North America’s hottest desert and driest place. It is the lowest point in the western hemisphere.) | CA | Calif. |
| 6. | Colorado (It is the only U.S. state that lies entirely above 1000 meters’ elevation. Thus, it is also the nation’s highest state.) | CO | Colo. |
| 7. | Connecticut (Lollipops were invented by George Smith of New Haven, Connecticut in 1908. He had this idea of putting candy on a stick so that it is easier to consume. Lollipops were originally soft rather than hard.) | CT | Conn. |
| 8. | Delaware (In 1610, Delaware was named after the first governor of Virginia, Sir Thomas West, Lord De La Warr.) | DE | Del. |
| 9. | Florida (There is no personal income tax in Florida.) | FL | Fla. |
| 10. | Georgia (Georgia has more soil types than any other state.) | GA | Ga. |
| 11. | Hawaii (Hawaii is the only state with an official native/second language, Hawaiian.) | HI | Hawaii |
| 12. | Idaho (This region is home to the highest navigable river in the world. The river is called St. Joe River, and it flows from an elevation of nearly 7,000 feet.) | ID | Idaho |
| 13. | Illinois (The tallest man in the world was born in Alton, Illinois, on 22 February 1918.) | IL | Ill. |
| 14. | Indiana (Wabash, Indiana, is the world’s first electrically lighted city.) | IN | Ind. |
| 15. | Iowa (Iowa is the only state name that starts with two vowels! You can hardly pronounce it on your first trial.) | IA | Iowa |
| 16. | Kansas (Amelia Earhart from Kansas was the first woman to be granted a pilot’s license and the first woman to fly over the Atlantic Ocean solo.) | KS | Kans. |
| 17. | Kentucky (A lot of states have cities named Washington in honor of the first president of the United States, but Washington, Kentucky was the first.) | KY | Ky. |
| 18. | Louisiana (The Conrad Rice Mill located in New Iberia, Louisiana, is the oldest independently owned rice mill in the United States still in operation.) | LA | La. |
| 19. | Maine (About 90% of Maine is forested, the highest percentage of any state.) | ME | Maine |
| 20. | Maryland (MD has the narrowest width of any U.S. state – less than 2 miles in the Hancock area.) | MD | Md. |
| 21. | Massachusetts (Did you know that the first post office in America opened in Boston in 1639?) | MA | Mass. |
| 22. | Michigan (Michigan and Oregon are the only two states in the U.S. that offer 10 cents back for recycling a can.) | MI | Mich. |
| 23. | Minnesota (It is also the only state with the source of three main rivers – the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence and the Red River of the North.) | MN | Minn. |
| 24. | Mississippi (Mississippi is the poorest state in the U.S. The state has the lowest average income among the 50 U.S. states. However, the state has some of the nicest and most generous people in the country.) | MS | Miss. |
| 25. | Missouri (Ice cream cones made from waffles were first invented in Missouri in the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904.) | MO | Mo. |
| 26. | Montana (Montana has two popular nicknames. It is called the “Big Sky Country” and it is also called “The Treasure State”.) | MT | Mont. |
| 27. | Nebraska (Nebraska is the only triply land-locked U.S. state.) | NE | Neb. or Nebr. |
| 28. | Nevada (The name of the state, Nevada, is an old Spanish word meaning “snow-covered.”) | NV | Nev. |
| 29. | New Hampshire (The first potato grown in the United States was planted in New Hampshire in 1719.) | NH | N.H. |
| 30. | New Jersey (The world’s first dinosaur statue was discovered in Haddonfield, New Jersey in October 1858. It was the first complete dinosaur skeleton to be found and the first to be publicly displayed as well.) | NJ | N.J. |
| 31. | New Mexico (The state ranks first in alcohol-related deaths.) | NM | N.Mex. |
| 32. | New York (New York is the only state that borders both the Atlantic and the Great Lakes.) | NY | N.Y. |
| 33. | North Carolina (Pepsi was invented here) | NC | N.C. |
| 34. | North Dakota (The only National Park named after a U.S. president is the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Actually, the National Park is dedicated on a piece of land once owned by the former president.) | ND | N.Dak. |
| 35. | Ohio (Seven U.S. Presidents were born in Ohio.) | OH | Ohio |
| 36. | Oklahoma (Shopping carts were first invented and used in Oklahoma before they were used anywhere else in the world.) | OK | Okla. |
| 37. | Oregon (The famous Nike logo was designed by Carolyn Davidson (in 1971), a student at Portland State University.) | OR | Ore. or Oreg. |
| 38. | Pennsylvania (The first computer in the world–The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer–was invented at the University of Pennsylvania in 1946.) | PA | Pa. |
| 39. | Rhode Island (Rhode Island has the longest official name of any state, the “State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.” It also happens to be the smallest state by area.) | RI | R.I. |
| 40. | South Carolina (There is an island called “Monkey Island” on the state. The island is said to be home to more than 3,000 monkeys) | SC | S.C. |
| 41. | South Dakota (Born in Pine Ridge, Oglala Lakota, South Dakota, in 1938, William Mervin, was the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in 10,000 m race.) | SD | S.Dak. |
| 42. | Tennessee (Elvis Presley’s (the “King of Rock and Roll”) house, Graceland, Tennessee is the second most visited house museum in the U.S. after the White House.) | TN | Tenn. |
| 43. | Texas (The Chilean flag looks very similar to the Texas flag.) | TX | Tex. or Texas |
| 44. | Utah (Utah is home to the largest independent film festival in the country, the Sundance Film Festival.) | UT | Utah |
| 45. | Vermont (John Calvin Coolidge Jr. was born in Vermont and is the only president with an Independence Day birthday!) | VT | Vt. |
| 46. | Virginia (In the Civil War, more battles were fought on Virginia soil than in any other state.) | VA | Va. |
| 47. | Washington (William Boeing started a plane company in 1916 in Seattle. It became the world’s largest airplane manufacturer.) | WA | Wash. |
| 48. | West Virginia (Chuck Yeager, born in 1923, from West Virginia became the first person in the world to break the sound barrier.) | WV | W.Va. |
| 49. | Wisconsin (Produced the first-ever Ice Cream Sundae.) | WI | Wis. or Wisc. |
| 50. | Wyoming (The first female governor in American history was elected in Wyoming.) | WY | Wyo. |
| US Commonwealth and Territories | Postal Abbreviation | ||
| 1. | American Samoa | AS | |
| 2. | Federated States of Micronesia | FM | |
| 3. | Guam | GU | |
| 4. | Marshall Islands | MH | |
| 5. | Northern Mariana Islands | MP | |
| 6. | Palau | PW | |
| 7. | Puerto Rico | PR | |
| 8. | Virgin Islands | VI |
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