Sonia Jaffe Robbins, Editing Workshop, G54.1123, WEEK VII

State Abbreviations

It is often useful to abbreviate state names to save space. Some publications abbreviate state names whenever they are used with a city (e.g., Kansas; but Wichita, Kan., Wichita, Kans., or Wichita, KS). So which abbreviation should be used?

The parenthetical example in the preceding paragraph shows three common abbreviations, following Chicago Manual of Style, AP, and the U.S. Post Office's Zip Code.

The U.S. Zip Code abbreviations were developed in 1963 to help computers read and process the mail more efficiently. Zip Code abbreviations belong on mailing envelopes, but NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT in text.

The other abbreviations have been used for text long before the Zip Codes were developed, and continue to be specified by all major style manuals. You'll notice that states with short names (five letters or less) and the states that are not part of the contiguous United States (Alaska and Hawaii) have no standard abbreviation. (Texas is always an exception.)

State Name	Chicago Manual of Style	AP Style Manual	Zip Codes
Alabama	Ala.	Ala.	AL
Alaska			AK
Arizona	Ariz.	Ariz.	AZ
Arkansas	Ark.	Ark.	AR
California	Calif.	Calif.	CA
Colorado	Colo.	Colo.	CO
Connecticut	Conn.	Conn.	CT
Delaware	Del.	Del.	DE
Washington, D.C.	D.C.	D.C.	DC
Florida	Fla.	Fla.	FL
Georgia	Ga.	Ga.	GA
Hawaii			HI
Idaho			ID
Illinois	Ill.	Ill.	IL
Indiana	Ind.	Ind.	IN
Iowa			IA
Kansas	Kans.	Kan.	KS
Kentucky	Ky.	Ky.	KY
Louisiana	La.	La.	LA
Maine			ME
Maryland	Md.	Md.	MD
Massachusetts	Mass.	Mass.	MA
Michigan	Mich.	Mich.	MI
Minnesota	Minn.	Minn.	MN
Mississippi	Miss.	Miss.	MS
Missouri	Mo.	Mo.	MO
Montana	Mont.	Mont.	MT
Nebraska	Nebr.	Neb.	NE
Nevada	Nev.	Nev.	NV
New Hampshire	N.H.	N.H.	NH
New Jersey	N.J.	N.J.	NJ
New Mexico	N.Mex.	N.M.	NM
New York	N.Y.	N.Y.	NY
North Carolina	N.C.	N.C.	NC
North Dakota	N.Dak.	N.D.	ND
Ohio			OH
Oklahoma	Okla.	Okla.	OK
Oregon	Ore. or Oreg.	Ore.	OR
Pennsylvania	Pa.	Pa.	PA
Rhode Island	R.I.	R.I.	RI
South Carolina	S.C.	S.C.	SC
South Dakota	S.Dak.	S.D.	SD
Tennessee	Tenn.	Tenn.	TN
Texas	Tex.		TX
Utah			UT
Vermont	Vt.	Vt.	VT
Virginia	Va.	Va.	VA
Washington	Wash.	Wash.	WA
West Virginia	W.Va.	W.Va.	WV
Wisconsin	Wis. or Wisc.	Wis.	WI
Wyoming	Wyo.	Wyo.	WY

Area Name	Chicago Manual of Style	AP Style Manual	Zip Codes
American Samoa	Amer. Samoa		AS
Canal Zone	C.Z.		CZ
Guam			GU
Puerto Rico	P.R.		PR
Virgin Islands	V.I.		VI

Last revision: January 4, 2004