Locations

Note: States whose names have five letters or fewer are never abbreviated. States and territories outside the 48 contiguous states are abbreviated only when used with a postal code.

Postal code placement: ZIP (Zone Improvement Program) codes follow the state code and are separated by a space: Los Alamitos, CA 90720. The Postal Service has expanded the original five-digit code to nine digits, known as ZIP+4. The added digits follow a hyphen appended to the original code: Los Alamitos, CA 90720-1314.

Europe

Postal codes are placed before the city name: D-4054 Nettetal, Germany. The number of digits varies among countries. The European postal union includes country prefixes with the postal codes. These prefixes, which are separated from the postal code by a hyphen, include

Include the state for all US cities except the following: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Do not list state name or province for cities outside the US and Canada. For most cities located outside the US, list the nation after the city. However, do not include the nation for the following locations: Amsterdam, Athens, Bangkok, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Cairo, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Geneva, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Kyoto, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Montreal, Moscow, Munich, Oslo, Ottawa, Paris, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Taipei, Taiwan, Tokyo, Toronto, Vienna, Warsaw, and Zurich.