United States Address Format: How to Write It

An American address is written from the specific to the general: recipient, street line, then city, state and ZIP code on one line. The street number normally comes before the street name, which is the opposite of the usual order in many European countries.

Line order

1. Recipient. A person's name, a business name, or both.
2. Street line. Number, street name, then a unit if there is one.
3. City, state, ZIP. The city name, a two-letter state abbreviation and the ZIP code, separated by spaces and a comma after the city.
4. Country. Only for international mail, on its own last line.

Street conventions

The street name is often followed by a type such as Street, Avenue, Road or Boulevard, usually abbreviated as St, Ave, Rd or Blvd. Direction words like N, S, E and W may come before or after the name and are part of the address; leaving them out can send a parcel to a different street entirely, because the same street name often appears in several quadrants of a city.

Some addresses use a PO Box instead of a street. A PO Box can only receive postal mail, and many private couriers cannot deliver to it, so a separate street address is often needed for parcels.

Units and buildings

Apartments, suites and floors are written after the street, using words such as Apt, Unit, Suite or Ste, or the number sign. In multi-building complexes, the building name or letter may come before the unit. Keep this on the street line or the second address line so the sorting software reads it as part of the delivery point.

States and territories

The state is a two-letter abbreviation, such as CA for California or NY for New York. The same style is used for the District of Columbia and the territories. Military addresses use APO, FPO or DPO in place of the city, and AA, AE or AP in place of the state.

Formatted example

JANE DOE
123 EXAMPLE STREET APT 4B
SAMPLETOWN ST 12345-6789
UNITED STATES

USPS automated systems prefer capital letters and minimal punctuation, but mixed case with commas is also read without problems. The values above are placeholders, not a real address.

Adding an exact location

Where a street address does not tell a courier which door, gate or loading bay to use, you can add a short UPCS code on a note or order field, such as US-XXXX-XXXX (a placeholder). It does not replace the ZIP code. See the country overview and the ZIP code format guide.