North American Address Format Explained

United States and Canadian addresses follow a small-to-large pattern and are usually compact. Four or five lines are enough in most cases, and the structure is consistent enough for automated sorting. Mexico, the third country usually counted as North American, has its own conventions: the street name typically comes before the number and the postal code before the town, so do not apply the layout below to it.

The typical layout

1. Recipient name
2. Building number and street name, with a unit if relevant
3. City or town, region abbreviation and postal code on one line
4. Country (on international mail)

The building number comes before the street name. The street name often includes a type such as Street, Avenue or Road, and a directional indicator such as North or West may appear before or after it.

Street types and directionals

Street types are commonly abbreviated, and directionals can change which road is meant. Two roads with the same name but different directionals can be in different parts of a town. Omitting a directional is a classic source of misdelivery.

Units and suites

In the United States, apartments, suites and units are normally written after the street address, either on the same line or on a second line, introduced by a marker word or symbol. In Canada the unit number is also often written before the building number, separated by a hyphen. See apartment, unit and floor notation.

The city, region and code line

The last domestic line combines city, a short region abbreviation and the postal code. Because this line is processed by machines, keeping it clean and in the expected order is more important than any decorative styling. For the difference between this line and the full layout, see postal code format vs address format.

Rural and post office box addresses

Not every address is a street address. Box numbers and route-style addresses exist where mail is collected rather than delivered to a door. Learn more in PO boxes explained and rural addresses and route-based addressing.

Writing a North American address from abroad

Use the same lines as above, put the country name in capitals on its own last line, and avoid inventing abbreviations. Further steps are in how to write an international shipping address.

Summary

The North American layout is predictable: name, number and street, unit, city, region and code, then country. Keep each part in the right place and the address is easy to sort.