Local short name form

Official name

Area

Population

Capital

Currency

International telephone access code

ISO 3166 country codes

Car nationality plate code

Internet country code

GRC Country Code

   1,234.45

(where . indicates the decimal separator and , the thousands separator)

   mm/dd/yyyy
   mm-dd-yyyy
   mm.dd.yyyy

The 12-hour clock notation is used almost exclusively.

A dialect and pronunciation map and resources for the USA

The official language is English (210 000 000 first-language speakers). There are 175 other indigenous languages (including Indian languages) and large numbers of imported languages. The state of New Mexico is officially bilingual English and Spanish , and there are large Spanish-speaking minorities in certain areas of the United States. There are a total of 22 400 000 Spanish-speakers. Addresses may be found written in Spanish, especially in states along the Mexican border and in Florida. There are an estimated 1 000 000 speakers of Cajun French and Louisiana Creole French in Southern Louisiana. About half the population of the state of Hawaii speak Hawai’i Creole English , about 150 000 of whom do not also speak standard English. There are some 650 000 Vlach Romani-speakers.

Different languages are spoken in the United States Territories which are included in the United States’ Postal Service coverage - please see the chapters on each of these for the relevant information.

Americans usually use the terminology first name(s) to refer to a person’s given name(s) and last name to refer to family name. The middle name has more prominence than in other cultures and it often written (usually as an initial). Names (mainly of males) may be followed by a seniority indicator such as Senior, Junior, I, II, III.

   Tables of names can be acquired: given names , surnames/family names , family name prefixes , forms of address , job titles 

   Note: This section last updated 12th January 2016

Common American company types include:

   Company (Co.)
   Co-operative (Co-op.)
   Corporation (Corp.)
   Incorporated (Inc.)
   Limited (Ltd)
   Limited Company (LC or Ltd Co.)
   LLC (Limited Liability Company)
   LLLP (Limited Liability Limited Partnership)
   LLP (Limited Liability Partnership)
   LP (Limited Partnership)
   NA (National Association)
   NL (No Liability)
   Partnership
   PC (Professional corporation)
   PLLC (Professional Limited Liability Company)
   PLLP (Professional Limited Liability Partnership)
   PSC (Personal Service Corporation)
   Sole Proprietorship
   Unlimited

   Comprehensive tables of these strings can be acquired – see http:www.grcdi.nl/addresses.htm 

   Note: This section last updated 25th November 2014

The USPS (United States’ Postal Service) have strict guidelines on address format. Following these guidelines requires upper casing and abbreviation of address elements which will enable you to take advantage of mailing discounts but will result in highly unattractive address layouts.

The address should contain

• standard abbreviations
• no punctuation
• be in upper case
• contain the full 5+4 postal code (ZIP^®+4)

The address is formatted as follows:

   NAME
   NUMBER[ ]THOROUGHFARE{[ ]SUB-BUILDING INDICATOR}
   CITY[ ]STATE ABBREVIATION[  ]POSTAL CODE

For example, the address:

is written as preferred by the USPS:

The use of the official abbreviations is dependent upon context. Thus:

   123 EAST STREET

may not be abbreviated to

   123 E ST

as ‘E STREET’ is also a common street name.

There should be two spaces between the state abbreviation and the postal code.

The abbreviation “RR” indicates “Rural Route” (ruta rural in Spanish) and is formatted in address lines as, for example:

   RR 5 BOX 12 A

The hash (#) symbol is used to indicate a floor or apartment number following the street name, and is used where the sub-building indicator is not used or is unknown. If the sub-building type is known and used (e.g. APT or UNIT) the hash symbol should not be used. The sub-building information may also be written on its own on a line above the thoroughfare information as follows:

When both a street address and a post office box number are used in the same address block, the mail will be delivered to the point to which the postal code refers.

Many American users do not follow these strict format requirements, writing addresses in mixed case, with different (or no) abbreviatiations, and very often with a comma following the postal town name in this way:

   Minneapolis, MN 23976-4542

The United States mail system includes a number of Pacific and Caribbean Island dependencies. When mail is addressed to one of these, the island name may be included in the address. The format then becomes:

   SETTLEMENT
   ISLAND[ ]STATE CODE[  ]POSTAL CODE

for example

   SAIPAN
   MARIANA ISLANDS MP  96950

The abbreviations APO (Army Post Office) and FPO (Fleet Post Office) are used for armed forces mail. They have the state code AA, AE or AP according to their geographical location. DPO is used for diplomatic mail sent via the USPS. The street address line is replaced by a Postal Service Center (PSC) number, box number, unit numbers and so on. An example address last line might read:

   APO AE  09081

Foreign city of country names in armed forces mail should not be used.

For dependents residing with military personnel, a “c/o” must be used:

   MS G SMITH
   C/O MSG H SMITH
   REST OF ADDRESS

Though not included in official lists from the USPS, addresses may contain Spanish thoroughfare types (see chapter on Spain for a list of these). The USPS regards them as part of the thoroughfare name rather than a thoroughfare type. However, if addressing in mixed case, be sure to write the Spanish thoroughfare types commencing with a lower-case letter.

For Puerto Rico, where addresses are written in Spanish, the most important part of the address is the Urbanization District (Urb). These may be known as extensiones, jardines, mansiones, parques, repartos orvillas. If these names are present, the word Urb is then obsolete. For example:

   A table containing information about the relevant position of elements within address blocks can be acquired 

This is the United States Postal Service’s official list of building indicators and abbreviations. The USPS prefers that the abbreviation, in upper case, is used in addresses.

Full String	Required Abbreviation
APARTMENT	APT
BASEMENT	BSMT
BUILDING	BLDG
DEPARTMENT	DEPT
FLOOR	FL
FRONT	FRNT
HANGAR	HNGR
LOBBY	LBBY
LOT	LOT
LOWER	LOWR
OFFICE	OFC
PENTHOUSE	PH
PIER	PIER
REAR	REAR
ROOM	RM
SIDE	SIDE
SLIP	SLIP
SPACE	SPC
STOP	STOP
SUITE	STE
TRAILER	TRLR
UNIT	UNIT
UPPER	UPPR

   Comprehensive tables of these strings can be acquired – see http:www.grcdi.nl/addresses.htm 

Thoroughfare types

This is known as PO Box or Apartado in Spanish. The initials PMB are used to indicate a private mail box.

Post office boxes in the United States. Source: Wikipedia

Known as the ZIP Code (Zone Improvement Program code), this can contain a block of 5 digits or, for more accurate delivery, 9 digits in this format:

   99999[-]9999

This is known as ZIP + 4. Though many companies use the ZIP code as a locational indicator (for example, when assigning local state taxes for mail-ordered items), there are a small number of communities on state borders which have the same ZIP code as a neighbouring community in another state. There is currently legislation in the American senate to give these communities their own ZIP codes.

The first three digits of the postal code indicate the routing zone or processing and delivery centre. The next two indicate the post office or delivery section. The first two digits of the code after the hyphen indicate a sector, the final two a segment.

"Swingin’ Six" ZIP Code Campaign Public Service Announcement Video produced by the Post Office Department, mid-1960s.

   Metadata containing postal code formatting rules, exceptions and regular expressions can be acquired 

United States of America - Postal code format graphic

United States of America - Postal code format

United States of America - Postal code specifics

United States of America - Postal code regular expression

United States of America - Postal code level of coverage

United States of America - Postal code map

   Note: This section last updated 21st December 2015

Refer to Exonyms in United States of America for full lists of place names in the United States of America in other languages.

Place names are fixed by the United States Board on Geographic Names. The board does not acknowledge the use of diacritic marks in place names and in almost all cases drops the possessive apostrophe from place names such as Lions Den and Elmers Brook. There are four exceptions:

   Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts
   Ike’s Point, New Jersey
   John E’s Pond, New Jersey (note that this does not take a full stop)
   Carlos Elmer’s Joshua View, Arizona

   Alternate place name forms/postal code tables can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/settlements.htm 

   Other language place name data can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/otherlanguageplace.htm 

The United States consists of 50 states and 1 district (shown in the list below with an asterisk). The state code must be used in addresses between the settlement name and the postal code. State codes for mailing purposes have also been assigned to dependent and other overseas territories and ex-territories. The full list of codes is:

State	Abbreviation	Zip code range*
Alabama	AL	35000-36999
Alaska	AK	99500-99999
American Samoa	AS (an unincorporated territory)	96799
Arizona	AZ	85000-86999
Arkansas	AR	71600-72999
California	CA	90000-96699
Colorado	CO	80000-81999
Connecticut	CT	06000-06999
Delaware	DE	19700-19999
District of Columbia *	DC	20000-20599
Federated States of Micronesia	FM (became independent of the USA in 1979 - see below)	96941-96944
Florida	FL	32000-34999
Georgia	GA	30000-31999
Guam	GU (an unincorporated territory)	96910-96931
Hawaii	HI	96700-96999
Idaho	ID	83200-83999
Illinois	IL	60000-62999
Indiana	IN	46000-47999
Iowa	IA	50000-52999
Kansas	KS	66000-67999
Kentucky	KY	40000-42999
Louisiana	LA	70000-71599
Maine	ME	03900-04999
Marshall Islands	MH (became independent of the USA in 1986 - see below)	96960, 96970
Maryland	MD	20600-21999
Massachusetts	MA	01000-02799
Michigan	MI	48000-49999
Minnesota	MN	55000-56999
Mississippi	MS	38600-39999
Missouri	MO	63000-65999
Montana	MT	59000-59999
Nebraska	NE	68000-69999
Nevada	NV	88900-89999
New Hampshire	NH	03000-03899
New Jersey	NJ	07000-08999
New Mexico	NM	87000-88899
New York	NY	10000-14999
North Carolina	NC	27000-28999
North Dakota	ND	58000-58999
Northern Mariana Islands	MP (commonwealth territory)	96950-96952
Ohio	OH	43000-45999
Oklahoma	OK	73000-74999
Oregon	OR	97000-97999
Palau	PW (became independent of the USA in 1994 - see below)	96940
Pennsylvania	PA	15000-19699
Puerto Rico	PR (commonwealth territory)	00600-00799; 00901-00999
Rhode Island (more correctly: Rhode Island and Providence Plantations)	RI	02800-02999
South Carolina	SC	29000-29999
South Dakota	SD	57000-57999
Tennessee	TN	37000-38599
Texas	TX	75000-79999
Utah	UT	84000-84999
Vermont	VT	05000-05999
Virgin Islands	VI (an unincorporated territory)	00801-00851
Virginia	VA	22000-24699
Washington	WA	98000-99499
West Virginia	WV	24700-26999
Wisconsin	WI	53000-54999
Wyoming	WY	82000-83199

* NB: some border settlements share Zip codes with the neighbouring state.

   This regions/postal code data can be acquired as a data file 

Military “State”	Abbreviation
Armed Forces Africa	AE
Armed Forces Americas (not Canada)	AA
Armed Forces Canada	AE
Armed Forces Europe	AE
Armed Forces Middle East	AE
Armed Forces Pacific	AP

The Pacific island states of Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau are all independent of the USA but are part of its postal system. They can be identified by their postal codes:

   Federated States of Micronesia (FM)    96941-4
   Marshall Islands (MH)                  96960 and 96970
   Palau(PW)                              96940

Please see the relevant chapters on these countries.

Administrative districts graphic

All area codes (from abroad) have a length of 3 digits. Numbers are written in the format:

   [1-]999[-]999[-]9999

Numbers 2, 3 and 4 are the “area code”, numbers 5, 6 and 7 are the exchange number the final four numbers are the “body”. The final 7 digits together make up the subscriber’s number.

Mobile number area codes are 500 and 533.