How to ace State Abbreviations

Memorizing all 50 USPS two-letter state abbreviations is hard for one reason: too many states share starting letters. There are 8 M-states, 8 N-states and 4 A-states. This guide walks through how the codes came about in 1963, the confused pairs, and a memorization order that builds on patterns instead of brute force.

Where the codes come from (1963)

The Post Office Department, the predecessor of today's USPS, published the two-letter codes in October 1963 in Publication 59: Abbreviations for Use with ZIP Code, a few months after ZIP codes were introduced. The aim was practical: fit the city, the state and the ZIP code on one line of no more than 23 characters.

• Always two letters, uppercase, no periods. "CA", not "Ca." or "Calif."
• One code changed later. Nebraska was first NB and became NE in November 1969, to avoid confusion with New Brunswick in Canada.
• No clash with Canada. The state codes do not overlap with the Canadian province and territory codes.

The 8 M-states: the biggest source of errors

Eight states begin with M. Their codes are not in alphabetical order, and only two of them use the second letter of the name.

The M-state memory trick

Split the 8 M-states into two groups:

• Group A, the Ma- and Me- states: Massachusetts MA, Maryland MD, Maine ME. MA uses the second letter; MD and ME take the D of Maryland and the final E of Maine.
• Group B, the Mi- and Mo- states: Michigan MI, Minnesota MN, Mississippi MS, Missouri MO, Montana MT. Only MI uses the second letter; the others take a later letter.

The A-states: AL, AK, AZ, AR

Four states start with A, and they form the second-most-confused cluster:

• Alabama, AL, second letter L, the obvious choice.
• Alaska, AK, the K of Alaska.
• Arizona, AZ, the Z of Arizona. Easy to remember: no other state name contains a Z.
• Arkansas, AR, second letter R, mirroring the "Ar-" start.

Memory trick: Alabama and Arkansas keep their first two letters, Alaska and Arizona take a later letter.

The 8 N-states

Eight states start with N, as many as start with M:

• Nebraska, NE
• Nevada, NV
• New Hampshire, NH
• New Jersey, NJ
• New Mexico, NM
• New York, NY
• North Carolina, NC
• North Dakota, ND

The "New" states (NH, NJ, NM, NY) use N + first letter of the second word, easy. The "North" states use N + first letter of "Carolina" or "Dakota". Nebraska and Nevada break the pattern: NE and NV.

Nebraska vs Nevada, the easiest swap

Nebraska is NE. Nevada is NV. Mnemonic: Nevada has Las Vegas, V for Vegas. Nebraska was NB until 1969.

The C-states and the K-trick

• California, CA
• Colorado, CO
• Connecticut, CT
• Kansas, KS
• Kentucky, KY

Kansas and Kentucky are the only two states that start with K, and both take a later letter: the S of Kansas and the Y of Kentucky. The three C-states take the second letter (CA, CO) or a later one (CT).

The Carolina/Dakota/Virginia pairs

The compass-direction states always start the code with N, S, or W. Virginia gets the prime "VA", West Virginia uses "WV".

Codes that don't match the state name at all

A few codes feel arbitrary. Memorize them as exceptions:

• Iowa, IA (not IO)
• Louisiana, LA (not the city of Los Angeles)
• Hawaii, HI (sounds friendly: "Hi!")
• Pennsylvania, PA (not PE or PN)
• Texas, TX (not TE, the X is distinctive)

Frequently asked questions

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