United States postal abbreviations for states, military, commonwealths, and territories.

United States postal abbreviations for states, military, commonwealths, and territories.

United States comprises 50 constituent states + one district and located on the North American continent. When the country gained independence from the rule of Great Britain, it had only 13 states. Between 19th and the 20th century, United States expanded across the North American continent by including 37 new states and by acquiring a number of overseas territories.

What Methodology used to define the postal code?

1. For each state, the initial letter of the abbreviation is the initial letter of the state's name. The second letter of each abbreviation fits at least one of the following patterns:
   Each of the 10 two-word state names is abbreviated with the initial of each word:
   NC, ND, NH, NJ, NM, NY, RI, SC, SD, WV
2. 19 states' names are each abbreviated with the first two letters of the name:
   AL, AR, CA*, CO*, DE*, FL, ID, IL, IN, MA, MI, NE, OH, OK, OR, UT, WA, WI, WY
3. 15 states' names are each abbreviated with the initial and final letter of the state's name:
   CA*, CO*, CT, DE*, GA, HI, IA, KS, KY, LA, MD, ME, PA, VA, VT
4. 9 states' names are each abbreviated with the initial and another letter from the state's name, often the second consonant:
   AK, AZ, MN, MO, MS, MT, NV, TN, TX
5. These three states (California, Colorado, Delaware) have the same second letter and last letter. Missouri, Mississippi, and Tennessee also match this pattern, but use another letter in their abbreviation.

For State abbreviations and maps go to http://www.stateabbreviations.us/ , http://www.stateabbreviations.us/states.htm , http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/United-States-postal-abbreviations, http://havenworks.com/us/states/abbreviations/

http://www.acronymfinder.com/stateabbreviations.asp (Provinces of Canada and States of Mexico are included)

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/helps/Search/Ancestors/US_census_abbreviations.htm (Abbreviations for Countries Other Than the United States also included)

For Quiz games go to http://www.syvum.com/cgi/online/serve.cgi/quiz/us/us_state_3.tdf?0 ,

http://quizlet.com/51362/us-states-postal-abbreviations-flash-cards/