You’ve probably stared at a piece of mail before and had that split-second panic. Is it MA or MI? Does MO stand for Montana or Missouri? Honestly, it’s a bit of a mess. We use these tiny codes every single day, yet most of us are basically guessing when we move past the obvious ones like NY or CA.
The truth is, the system of u.s. states and abbreviations isn’t just a random pile of letters. It’s a mix of 19th-century telegraph habits, 1960s computing limitations, and a very specific battle between the Post Office and the people who write the news.
Why We Switched to Two Letters
For a long time, abbreviations were all over the place. If you were living in 1874, you might write "Penna." for Pennsylvania or "Oreg." for Oregon. It was descriptive, sure, but it was a nightmare for a growing government.
Everything changed in 1963. That was the year the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) introduced the ZIP code.
Basically, the early sorting machines were pretty clunky. They could only handle a certain number of characters on a single line of an address. To make room for those five new digits at the end, the state names had to shrink. The Post Office decided that every state would get exactly two letters. No more, no less.
It wasn't an easy transition. People hated it. Imagine being told your beloved "Calif." was now just "CA." But the machines won, and by October 1963, the list we use today was mostly set in stone.
The "M" Problem and Other Confusions
If you get confused by the states starting with M, don't feel bad. There are eight of them. Eight!
When the USPS was handing out these two-letter codes, they ran into a massive traffic jam in the middle of the alphabet. Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, and Minnesota were all fighting for the same real estate.
Here is how they actually settled the score:
- MI went to Michigan because it’s the first two letters.
- MS went to Mississippi (first and last).
- MO went to Missouri. Why? Because "MS" was taken and "MI" was taken. They grabbed the "O" from the end of the first syllable. It’s a bit of a historical oddity that actually dates back to 1831.
- MN was left for Minnesota.
Then you have the "A" states. AK for Alaska and AZ for Arizona. If you’ve ever wondered why Alaska isn’t "AL," it’s because Alabama had been around longer and claimed it first. Alaska had to settle for the first and last letters of its name.
The AP Style Grudge
Here is where it gets kinda tricky. Just because the Post Office uses two letters doesn't mean everyone else does.
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If you read a newspaper or a professional journal, you’re likely seeing AP Style. The Associated Press is old-school. For decades, they refused to use the two-letter postal codes in their stories because they thought they were too confusing for readers.
They prefer "traditional" abbreviations. In their world, North Dakota is "N.D." and Arizona is "Ariz."
However, even they have limits. There are eight states that AP Style says you should never abbreviate in the body of a story: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, and Utah. The logic is simple: they are already short. Why make "Utah" shorter? It just looks weird.
The 1969 Nebraska Incident
You might think these codes are permanent, but they’ve changed once.
Back in 1963, Nebraska was originally given the code NB. It makes sense, right? First and last letter.
But our neighbors to the north in Canada had a problem. They have a province called New Brunswick, which also used NB. Mail was ending up in the wrong country constantly. In 1969, the USPS officially swapped Nebraska to NE to keep the peace.
Real-World Usage and Mistakes
The most common mistake people make today? Mixing up MA (Massachusetts), MD (Maryland), and ME (Maine).
If you’re sending a wedding invite to Baltimore but you write "MA," that letter is going to Boston. The machines don't care about your intent; they only see those two characters.
Another weird one is AR vs AK vs AZ.
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- AR is Arkansas.
- AK is Alaska.
- AZ is Arizona.
It’s a linguistic puzzle that we’ve all just agreed to live with.
Actionable Tips for Mastering State Codes
If you want to stop double-checking Google every time you fill out a form, try these mental shortcuts.
First, remember that all two-word states use the first letter of each word. This is the easiest rule to follow. New Hampshire is NH, South Carolina is SC, and West Virginia is WV.
Second, for the "M" states, think phonetically. MT for Mon-Tana. MS for Mis-Sissippi.
Third, if you are writing anything professional like a resume or a formal letter, check your style. If you are writing an address on an envelope, use the two-letter u.s. states and abbreviations (no periods). If you are writing a formal essay and mention a city, spell the state name out entirely. "He moved to Chicago, Illinois" looks much better than "He moved to Chicago, IL" in a paragraph.
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Stop treating these codes like a chore. They’re a shorthand map of the country’s history, packed into just two taps on a keyboard.
Double-check your next shipment for the "M" and "A" states specifically. It’s the highest ROI for your time to ensure your mail actually lands where it’s supposed to. Use the two-letter code for addresses and the full name for everything else to keep your writing clean.