Postal Abbreviations of American States

The postal abbreviations of American states consist of two letters. In many cases the abbreviation consists of the first two letters of the state as in CA (California) and FL (Florida). States with names composed of two words have abbreviations formed from the first letter of each word as in NY (New York) and SC (South Carolina). However, many states begin with the same letter. In these cases, the abbrevation may not be evident.

Here are the postal abbreviations of states which share their initial letter with other states:

Alabama (AL)

Alaska (AK)

Arizona (AZ)

Arkansas (AR)

Colorado (CO)

Connecticut (CT)

Indiana (IN)

Iowa (IA)

Maine (ME)

Maryland (MD)

Massachusetts (MA)

Michigan (MI)

Minnesota (MN)

Mississippi (MS)

Missouri (MO)

Montana (MT)

Nebraska (NE)

Nevada (NV)

Washington (WA)

Wisconsin (WI)

The abbreviation of Nebraska used to be NB. However, it was changed to NE so that it would not be confused with the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The letter Q is not used in any of the postal abbreviations of American states.