<<

Abbreviations

Postal Abbreviations for States/ On 1, 1963, the Post Office Department introduced the five-digit ZIP Code. At the time, 10/1963– 1831 1874 1943 6/1963 present most addressing equipment could accommodate only 23 characters (including spaces) in the Al. Ala. Ala. ALA AL -- Alaska Alaska ALSK AK bottom line of the . To make room for -- Ariz. Ariz. ARIZ AZ the ZIP Code, state names needed to be Ar. T. . Ark. ARK AR abbreviated. The Department provided an initial -- Cal. Calif. CALIF CA list of abbreviations in 1963, but many had -- Colo. Colo. COL CO three or four letters, which still too long. In Ct. Conn. Conn. CONN CT De. Del. Del. DEL DE 1963, the Department settled on the District of D. C. D. C. D. C. DC DC current two- abbreviations. Since that time, Columbia only one change has been made: in 1969, at the Fl. T. Fla. Fla. FLA FL request of the Canadian postal administration, Ga. Ga. Ga. GA GA -- -- Hawaii HAW HI the abbreviation for , originally NB, -- Idaho Idaho IDA ID was changed to NE, to avoid confusion with Il. Ill. Ill. ILL IL in . Ia. Ind. Ind. IND IN -- Iowa Iowa IOWA IA -- Kans. Kans. KANS KS A list of state abbreviations since 1831 is Ky. Ky. Ky. KY KY provided at right. A more complete list of current La. La. La. LA LA abbreviations, including all U.S. possessions, is Me. Me. Maine ME ME available online at Md. Md. Md. MD MD https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/28apb.htm. Ms. Mass. Mass. MASS MA Mic. T. Mich. Mich. MICH MI -- Minn. Minn. MINN MN Mi. Miss. Miss. MISS MS Mo. Mo. Mo. MO MO -- Mont. Mont. MONT MT Nebraska -- Nebr. Nebr. NEB NB (to NE in 1969) -- Nev. Nev. NEV NV N. H. N. H. N. H. NH NH New N. J. N. J. N. J. NJ NJ New -- N. Mex. N. Mex. NM NM New N. Y. N. Y. N. Y. NY NY Carolina N. C. N. C. N. C. NC NC North -- -- N. Dak. ND ND tag">O. Ohio Ohio OHIO OH -- -- Okla. OKLA OK -- Oreg. Oreg. ORE OR Pa. Pa. Pa. PA PA -- -- P. R. PR PR Rhode R. I. R. I. R. I. RI RI S. C. S. C. S. C. SC SC -- -- S. Dak. SD SD Promoting ZIP Codes in , 1966 Te. Tenn. Tenn. TENN TN To allow space for the ZIP Code in the last line of -- Tex. Tex. TEX TX an address, state names needed to be abbreviated. -- Utah Utah UTAH UT Previously, the Post Office Department preferred Vt. Vt. Vt. VT VT that state names be written in full, to avoid Va. Va. Va. VA VA confusion. -- Wash. Wash. WASH Virginia -- W. Va. W. Va. W VA WV -- Wis. Wis. WIS WI

Wyoming -- Wyo. Wyo. WYO WY Sources: 1831, Table of Post Offices in the ; 1874 and 1943, United HISTORIAN States Official Postal Guide; 6/1963, Postal Bulletin 20368; 10/1963, Post Office UNITED STATES POSTAL Department Publication 59, Abbreviations for Use with ZIP Code. 2019