FIPS state codes were numeric and two-letter alphabetic codes defined in U.S. Federal Information Processing Standard Publication ("FIPS PUB") 5-2 to identify U.S. states and certain other associated areas. The standard superseded FIPS PUB 5-1 on May 28, 1987, and was superseded on September 2, 2008, by ANSI standard INCITS 38:2009.

The codes are used in Geographic Names Information System, overseen by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. The codes were assigned by NIST and each uniquely identified a state, the District of Columbia, or an outlying area of the U.S. These codes were used by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Agriculture to form milk-processing plant numbers, some cash registers during check approval, and in the Emergency Alert System (EAS).

The FCC assigned additional numeric codes used with the EAS for territorial waters of the U.S., but these were not part of the FIPS standard.

The FIPS state alpha code for each U.S. states and the District of Columbia are identical to the postal abbreviations by the United States Postal Service. From September 3, 1987, the same was true of the alpha code for each of the outlying areas, with the exception of U.S. Minor Outlying Islands (UM) as the USPS routes mail for these islands indirectly.

Each of the various minor outlying islands that fell within alpha code UM had an individual numeric code, but no individual alpha code.

On September 2, 2008, FIPS 5-2 was one of ten standards withdrawn by NIST as a Federal Information Processing Standard.

FIPS state codes

The following table enumerates the FIPS state alpha and numeric codes for the states, the District of Columbia, the outlying areas of the United States, the freely associated states, and trust territory, and FIPS state numeric codes for the individual minor outlying island territories.

Only actual U.S. states and the District of Columbia had FIPS state numeric codes in the range 01 through 56.

FIPS PUB 5-1 (published on June 15, 1970, and superseded by FIPS PUB 5-2 on May 28, 1987) stated that certain numeric codes "are reserved for possible future use in identifying American Samoa (03), Canal Zone (07), Guam (14), Puerto Rico (43), and Virgin Islands (52)", but these codes were omitted from FIPS PUB 5-2 without comment. These areas are marked with a * and highlighted in red in the table below.

For states, the "Status" column in the table below includes a link to a list of the counties (boroughs and census areas in Alaska; parishes in Louisiana) for that state including the county codes as defined in FIPS PUB 6-4. The listings of counties for other areas are set out at the end of this article.

Name Alpha code Numeric code Status Alabama AL 01 State; counties Alaska AK 02 State; boroughs American Samoa AS 60 Outlying area under U.S. sovereignty American Samoa * 03 (FIPS 5-1 reserved code) Arizona AZ 04 State; countiesArkansas AR 05 State; countiesBaker Island 81 Minor outlying island territoryCalifornia CA 06 State; counties Canal Zone * 07 (FIPS 5-1 reserved code)Colorado CO 08 State; countiesConnecticut CT 09 State; countiesDelaware DE 10 State; countiesDistrict of Columbia DC 11 Federal districtThe federal district of the United States has one city, the City of Washington, which is coterminous with the single county, District of Columbia CountyFlorida FL 12 State; countiesFederated States of Micronesia FM 64 Freely Associated StateGeorgia GA 13 State; counties Guam * 14 (FIPS 5-1 reserved code)Guam GU 66 Outlying area under U.S. sovereigntyHawaii HI 15 State; countiesHowland Island 84 Minor outlying island territoryIdaho ID 16 State; countiesIllinois IL 17 State; countiesIndiana IN 18 State; countiesIowa IA 19 State; countiesJarvis Island 86 Minor outlying island territoryJohnston Atoll 67 Minor outlying island territoryKansas KS 20 State; countiesKentucky KY 21 State; countiesKingman Reef 89 Minor outlying island territoryLouisiana LA 22 State; parishesMaine ME 23 State; countiesMarshall Islands MH 68 Freely Associated StateMaryland MD 24 State; countiesMassachusetts MA 25 State; countiesMichigan MI 26 State; countiesMidway Islands 71 Minor outlying island territoryMinnesota MN 27 State; countiesMississippi MS 28 State; countiesMissouri MO 29 State; countiesMontana MT 30 State; countiesNavassa Island 76 Minor outlying island territoryNebraska NE 31 State; countiesNevada NV 32 State; countiesNew Hampshire NH 33 State; countiesNew Jersey NJ 34 State; countiesNew Mexico NM 35 State; countiesNew York NY 36 State; countiesNorth Carolina NC 37 State; countiesNorth Dakota ND 38 State; countiesNorthern Mariana Islands MP 69 Outlying area under U.S. sovereigntyOhio OH 39 State; countiesOklahoma OK 40 State; countiesOregon OR 41 State; countiesPalau PW 70 Freely Associated StatePalmyra Atoll 95 Minor outlying island territoryPennsylvania PA 42 State; counties Puerto Rico * 43 (FIPS 5-1 reserved code)Puerto Rico PR 72 Outlying area under U.S. sovereigntyRhode Island RI 44 State; countiesSouth Carolina SC 45 State; countiesSouth Dakota SD 46 State; countiesTennessee TN 47 State; countiesTexas TX 48 State; countiesU.S. Minor Outlying Islands UM 74 Minor outlying island territories (aggregated)Utah UT 49 State; countiesVermont VT 50 State; countiesVirginia VA 51 State; counties Virgin Islands of the U.S. * 52 (FIPS 5-1 reserved code)Virgin Islands of the U.S. VI 78 Outlying area under U.S. sovereigntyWake Island 79 Minor outlying island territoryWashington WA 53 State; countiesWest Virginia WV 54 State; countiesWisconsin WI 55 State; countiesWyoming WY 56 State; counties

County codes

Supplemental codes for maritime areas

The Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the weather radio service provided by NOAA use these codes to supplement FIPS PUB 5-2 to include certain maritime areas.

EAS codeMaritime area57Pacific coast from Washington to California58Alaskan coast59Hawaiian coast61American Samoa waters65Mariana Islands waters (including Guam)73Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia75Atlantic coast from North Carolina to Florida, and the coasts of Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands77Gulf of Mexico91Lake Superior92Lake Michigan93Lake Huron94St. Clair River, Detroit River, and Lake St. Clair96Lake Erie97Niagara River and Lake Ontario98St. Lawrence River

See also FIPS PUB 10-4 international region codes

References

External links