Brazil Address Format: How to Write It Correctly

A Brazilian address lists the street type and name, then the number, a complement if needed, the neighbourhood (bairro), the city with the two-letter state code, and the CEP. The number comes after the street name, separated by a comma.

Line order

1. Recipient. Person or company.
2. Street line. Street type and name, number, and the complemento.
3. Bairro. The neighbourhood or district.
4. City and state. City name, then a hyphen or slash and the two-letter state abbreviation.
5. CEP. Eight digits with a hyphen.
6. Country. Only for international mail.

Street types

The street type is part of the name and written before it: Rua (street), Avenida (Av.), Travessa (Tv.), Alameda, Praça, Estrada or Rodovia (road or highway) are common. Rural addresses often use a road and a kilometre marker, written as km with the number, rather than a street number. Keep the full name, because abbreviated names can be ambiguous.

Number and complemento

The number goes after the street name: Rua Exemplo, 123. Apartments and offices go into the complemento, for example Apto 45, Bloco B, Sala 12 or Casa 2. Always add a block or tower if the building has several. If there is no number, write s/n and add a reference.

Bairro, city and state

The bairro is a normal part of a Brazilian address, even when the CEP already identifies the street, because it helps sorting and navigation. The state is written as a two-letter abbreviation after the city, such as SP, RJ or MG.

Language and characters

Addresses are in Portuguese. Keep accents and cedillas, for example in São Paulo and Conceição. When filling an international form, the rest of the address should remain in Portuguese, with the country in the last line.

Formatted example

Jane Doe
Avenida Exemplo, 123, Apto 45, Bloco B
Bairro Exemplo
Cidade Exemplo - UF
00000-000
BRASIL

All values are placeholders, not a real address.

Adding an exact location

Entrances to condominiums, internal streets and rural farms are hard to locate from text. A UPCS code in the form BR-XXXX-XXXX (a placeholder) can be added in a note to point to the exact spot. It complements the CEP and does not replace it. See the CEP format and the country overview.