Do you want to know the abbreviations of all states? Teachers often introduce their students to the US state abbreviations while they are teaching the list of US states. This makes it easier for students to remember the information. You can use the attached printable list of state abbreviations for your homeschooling class or to prepare your children for their geography classes at school.
50 States Abbreviations
List of abbreviations for all 50 States
The following is a list with the proper abbreviations for each of the 50 US states:
- Alabama
- Alaska: AK
- Arizona
- Arkansas, AR
- California
- Colorado: CO
- Connecticut: CT
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois: IL
- Indiana
- Iowa: IA
- Kansas: KS
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts, MA
- Michigan: MI
- Minnesota: MN
- Mississippi
- Missouri (MO)
- Montana: MT
- Nebraska: NE
- Nevada: NV
- New Hampshire: NH
- New Jersey: NJ
- New Mexico: NM
- New York, NY
- North Carolina: NC
- North Dakota: ND
- Ohio
- Oklahoma: OK
- Oregon: OR
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island (RI)
- South Carolina (SC)
- South Dakota (SD)
- Tennessee: TN
- Texas : TX
- Utah: UT
- Vermont: VT
- Virginia: VA
- Washington, WA
- West Virginia: WV
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming: WY
Need to know
In 1831, the first list of state abbreviations was published. The list only contained 28 state, of which three were still territories. The two- or three letter abbreviations of the states were then followed by “T”. It wasn’t until 1963 that every state reduced to just two letters. The reason for this was to allow room for the ZIP code in the address line.
US Territory Abbreviations
There are several other locations that are US territory. These are abbreviations:
- American Samoa AS
- Marshall Islands MH
- Federated States of Micronesia FM
- Gaum GU
- Puerto Rico PR
- Northern Mariana Islands MP
- Virgin Islands VI
- Palau PW
Use of State Abbreviations
In order to save time and standardize the look of addresses, abbreviations are used in postal addresses as well as data processing. This means:
- When writing formal correspondence, or school reports, it is not acceptable to use state abbreviations.
- Referring to a particular state requires the spelling of its full name.
- Use US state abbreviations for addresses. They should be placed after the city name and before the zip code.
- They are also useful for learning where the various states are on a map.
You can learn and reference state abbreviations no matter your age.
You can use this list to help teach your children these abbreviations, or as a reference for yourself.