US State Abbreviations Quiz

Match the 2-letter postal code to the state.

Match the two-letter postal code to the state. The quickest win in US geography — most are obvious, and about a dozen genuinely are not.

The easiest quiz here, with a catch

Roughly two-thirds of state abbreviations are simply the first two letters: CA, FL, TX, OH, OR, UT. Those need no study at all.

The work is entirely in the clusters where several states start with the same letters and the postal service had to improvise. There are about three such clusters, and they account for nearly every wrong answer.

Cluster one: the M states

Eight states begin with M, which is more than any other letter:

ME — Maine
MD — Maryland
MA — Massachusetts
MI — Michigan
MN — Minnesota
MS — Mississippi
MO — Missouri
MT — Montana

The pattern: only Maine gets the plain first-two-letters treatment. The rest take the first letter plus a distinctive later consonant — the D in Maryland, the S in Mississippi, the O in Missouri, the T in Montana.

Mississippi and Missouri are the pair that actually catches people: MS and MO.

Cluster two: the New states and the N states

NH — New Hampshire
NJ — New Jersey
NM — New Mexico
NY — New York
NC — North Carolina
ND — North Dakota
NE — Nebraska
NV — Nevada

The four "New" states take N plus the first letter of the second word, which is tidy. The two "North" states do the same. Nebraska and Nevada are the awkward pair — NE and NV — and they are the ones to drill.

Cluster three: the A and I states

AL Alabama, AK Alaska, AZ Arizona, AR Arkansas — four A states, and Alaska taking AK rather than AL is the one that surprises people.
IA Iowa, ID Idaho, IL Illinois, IN Indiana — four I states, and Iowa taking IA while Idaho takes ID is a common mix-up.

The individually odd ones

HI — Hawaii. Fine, but easy to blank on.
KY — Kentucky, not KE.
PA — Pennsylvania, not PE.
VA and WV — Virginia and West Virginia. The W prefix is the whole distinction.
WA, WI, WY — Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming. Three W states and all three are the first two letters, which is easier than people expect.

Why the codes look like this

The two-letter system was introduced in 1963 when the ZIP code was created, to fit addresses onto punch cards and early automated sorting equipment. Before that, states used longer and much less consistent abbreviations — Mass., Penna., Calif. The constraint was mechanical, which is why the results are occasionally ungainly: AK for Alaska exists because AL was already Alabama.

Knowing that the codes were assigned under a no-duplicates constraint turns them from arbitrary into solvable. When two states compete for the same letters, the more populous one at the time usually won the obvious code.

Where to go next

Abbreviations pair well with US States by Shape, because a map quiz labelled with postal codes is a common format and needs both skills at once.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Alaska AK and not AL?

Because AL was already taken by Alabama. The 1963 two-letter system required every code to be unique, so where two states competed for the same letters one had to take an alternative. Alaska ended up with AK, using its first letter plus a distinctive later consonant.

What is the difference between MS and MO?

MS is Mississippi and MO is Missouri. Both begin with Mi and Mis, so the postal code takes a distinctive later letter — the second S in Mississippi and the O in Missouri. It is the most commonly confused abbreviation pair.

Which letter begins the most US states?

M, with eight: Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri and Montana. That crowding is why only Maine gets a straightforward first-two-letters code and the rest had to improvise.

When were two-letter state abbreviations introduced?

In 1963, alongside the ZIP code, to fit addresses onto punch cards and early automated mail-sorting equipment. Before that states used longer forms such as Mass., Penna. and Calif., which varied between publishers and were not standardised.

Play State Abbreviations offline in the app

US State Abbreviations Quiz and the rest of the arcade are in the free Geography Quiz Arcade app: Get it on Google Play · Download on the App Store.