State Abbre

Geography Summaries

The following list summarizes the official United States Postal Code State Abbreviations, and shows the presumed derivations. There is no absolute rule in coming up with the two-letter state codes, which means that one must memorize them all. Missouri is the weirdest state abbreviation, in a class by itself. This chart should help you to remember each state's abbreviation.





In those cases where there is a possible alternative derivation, the cell has been highlighted in yellow.

The Second Letter of the State abbreviation comes from :  

 State

AL-a-ba-ma

A-las-Ka

Ar-i-Zo-na

AR-kan-sas

CAl-i-for-niA

COl-O-rad-O

Con-nec-Ti-cuT

DEl-a-warE

FLor-i-da

10

Geor-giA

Ha-wai-I

I-Da-ho

IL-Li-nois

IN-di-aN-a

I-o-wA

Kan-SaS

Ken-tuck-Y

Lou-i-si-AnA

MainE

20

Ma-ry-lanD

MAs-sa-chu-setts

MIch-i-gan

MiN-Ne-so-ta

MiS-Sis-Sip-pi

Mis-sOu-ri

Mon-Tan-a

NE-bras-ka

Ne-Vad-a

New Hamp-shire

30

New Jer-sey

New Mex-i-co

New York

North Car-o-li-na

North Da-ko-ta

O-Hi-o

O-Kla-ho-ma

OR-e-gon

Penn-syl-va-niA

Rhode Is-land

40

South Car-o-li-na

South Da-ko-ta

TeN-Nes-see

TeX-as

U-Tah

Ver-monT

VT

Vir-gin-iA

VA

WAsh-ing-ton

West Vir-gin-ia

WIs-con-sin

50

WY-o-ming

25

200-625

50

50

50

50

50

50

50

50

Disclaimer: I hope there are no errors.
Many thanks to Suzanne Walters and her students for pointing out my errors, and offering some additional considerations and possibilities.
I have not mentioned a few other possibilities (mid-syllable letters), because they are highly improbable, IMHO.

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