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Jul 6, 2022 · These official state abbreviations have all been standardized by the United States Postal Service (USPS). State postal abbreviations are all two letters, and these two letters are always capitalized without any periods. There is also a list of traditional abbreviations used in other contexts.
StateAbbreviations.us features a table of U.S. States, Districts, Territories, and Possessions, along with their standard and postal service abbreviations and their state capitals. Each State name contains a link to its official state government website.
Who came up with U.S. state abbreviations? We can largely thank the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), which has created abbreviations during much of its history. In 1831 the USPS developed its first list of state abbreviations, each consisting of two letters except Ohio’s, which was simply “O.”
The list below is all 50 States and their postal and standard abbreviations in alphabetical order. Each state has its own unique shortened name codes called state abbreviations used in written documents and mailing addresses.
1) Short forms, such as U.S., are common in casual language, and using a full name or title is considered more appropriate in formal language. So, for example, politicians giving formal addresses will almost always say "The United States of America." (The full form is also more dramatic.)
A more complete list of current abbreviations, including all U.S. possessions, is available online at https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/28apb.htm. Promoting ZIP Codes in New York City, 1966. To allow space for the ZIP Code in the last line of an address, state names needed to be abbreviated.
Apr 16, 2019 · For example, two state names begin with the word "North," four with the word "New," and eight with the letter "N." All state abbreviations start with the first letter of the state's name. In cases where a state's name contains two words, the USPS chose the first letter of each word, such as North Carolina (NC) and West Virginia (WV).
