US State Codes Table
| State | USPS | FIPS |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | AL | 01 |
| Alaska | AK | 02 |
| Arizona | AZ | 04 |
| Arkansas | AR | 05 |
| California | CA | 06 |
| Colorado | CO | 08 |
| Connecticut | CT | 09 |
| Delaware | DE | 10 |
| District of Columbia | DC | 11 |
| Florida | FL | 12 |
| Georgia | GA | 13 |
| Hawaii | HI | 15 |
| Idaho | ID | 16 |
| Illinois | IL | 17 |
| Indiana | IN | 18 |
| Iowa | IA | 19 |
| Kansas | KS | 20 |
| Kentucky | KY | 21 |
| Louisiana | LA | 22 |
| Maine | ME | 23 |
| Maryland | MD | 24 |
| Massachusetts | MA | 25 |
| Michigan | MI | 26 |
| Minnesota | MN | 27 |
| Mississippi | MS | 28 |
| Missouri | MO | 29 |
| Montana | MT | 30 |
| Nebraska | NE | 31 |
| Nevada | NV | 32 |
| New Hampshire | NH | 33 |
| New Jersey | NJ | 34 |
| New Mexico | NM | 35 |
| New York | NY | 36 |
| North Carolina | NC | 37 |
| North Dakota | ND | 38 |
| Ohio | OH | 39 |
| Oklahoma | OK | 40 |
| Oregon | OR | 41 |
| Pennsylvania | PA | 42 |
| Rhode Island | RI | 44 |
| South Carolina | SC | 45 |
| South Dakota | SD | 46 |
| Tennessee | TN | 47 |
| Texas | TX | 48 |
| Utah | UT | 49 |
| Vermont | VT | 50 |
| Virginia | VA | 51 |
| Washington | WA | 53 |
| West Virginia | WV | 54 |
| Wisconsin | WI | 55 |
| Wyoming | WY | 56 |
| Territory | USPS | FIPS |
|---|---|---|
| American Samoa | AS | 60 |
| Guam | GU | 66 |
| Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands | MP | 69 |
| Puerto Rico | PR | 72 |
| United States Virgin Islands | VI | 78 |
Every US state carries two standard identifiers: the two-letter USPS abbreviation used on mail and forms since 1963 (and everywhere online since dropdowns became a way of life), and the FIPS code - a Federal Information Processing Standard number the Census Bureau and most government databases use internally. They disagree in annoying ways: FIPS numbers run alphabetically (Alabama is 01, Wyoming 56), DC jumps to 11 because of a century-old renumbering, and the territories pick up where the states end.
The table below lists all fifty states plus the District of Columbia with both codes, and the six inhabited territories in a second table. Type any state name or abbreviation to look up its pair instantly. The source is the Census Bureau's own ANSI/FIPS reference list - the same file state agencies and data pipelines sync against - so these are the codes that match government records, not a mailing-house shorthand.
How to use
- Type a state name (Michigan) or abbreviation (MI) to see both codes - the lookup is case-insensitive and accepts either side.
- Read the FIPS column as text, not a number: 01 means 01, and the leading zero is required in most government file formats.
- For territories, use the second table - American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands carry 60-78, and their mail abbreviations are two letters too.
Frequently asked questions
What is a FIPS code and who uses it?
FIPS stands for Federal Information Processing Standards - numbers NIST maintains so every federal database means the same state by the same code. The Census Bureau publishes the current list and tags every geographic entity with one: states are 01-56, DC is 11, and counties add two digits (Alaska's boroughs run 01001 up). If a form, dataset or API asks for a 'state FIPS', the value in this table is the answer.
Why do FIPS codes skip around instead of running 1 to 51?
They mostly do not: assigned alphabetically in 1970s renumbering, they run 01 (Alabama) through 56 (Wyoming). The famous gaps - no 03, 07 through 09, and so on - are retired numbers from older schemes, and DC's 11 slots in after the original ten. The codes are frozen now precisely because thousands of files depend on them; a 'missing' number is a ghost, not an error.
Are USPS and FIPS abbreviations the same thing?
No - USPS abbreviations are two letters for mail and forms (CA, NY, TX), while FIPS codes are two digits for databases (06, 36, 48). A third system, AP style abbreviations used in old news copy (Calif., N.Y., Tex.), still floats around published tables. This table keeps the two official ones side by side so a mail address and a data file can be reconciled without a third lookup.
Do the territories have standard codes too?
Yes - American Samoa (AS, 60), Guam (GU, 66), the Northern Mariana Islands (MP, 69), Puerto Rico (PR, 72) and the US Virgin Islands (VI, 78) all appear in the Census Bureau's list with USPS abbreviations and FIPS codes, though they are not states and keep their own postal conventions. Online forms that reject 'PR' in the state dropdown are using a states-only list, not the federal one.