United States Listed Alphabetically | Find Any State Fast

If you’re filling out forms, studying for a quiz, building a spreadsheet, or labeling a map, an A–Z state list saves time. You stop hunting. You stop second-guessing spelling. You get one clean order you can reuse.

This page gives you the full alphabetical list of states, then a reference table with postal abbreviations and capitals, plus a separate table for Washington, D.C. and U.S. territories. It’s built so you can copy, scan, and move on.

What Alphabetical Order Means For State Names

Alphabetical order uses the first letter of each state name, then the next letter when two names share the same start. “Alabama” comes before “Alaska” because “ab” comes before “ak.” “North Carolina” comes before “North Dakota” because “Carolina” comes before “Dakota.”

Most lists sort by the state’s full official name, not its abbreviation, not its capital, and not its nickname. If you sort by a different field in a spreadsheet, you’ll get a different sequence. That’s fine, as long as you label the list so others know what they’re seeing.

United States Listed Alphabetically For Study And Forms

Here are the 50 states in A–Z order. This is the same ordering used in most school handouts, many database drop-downs, and lots of state-by-state reports.

1. Alabama
2. Alaska
3. Arizona
4. Arkansas
5. California
6. Colorado
7. Connecticut
8. Delaware
9. Florida
10. Georgia
11. Hawaii
12. Idaho
13. Illinois
14. Indiana
15. Iowa
16. Kansas
17. Kentucky
18. Louisiana
19. Maine
20. Maryland
21. Massachusetts
22. Michigan
23. Minnesota
24. Mississippi
25. Missouri
26. Montana
27. Nebraska
28. Nevada
29. New Hampshire
30. New Jersey
31. New Mexico
32. New York
33. North Carolina
34. North Dakota
35. Ohio
36. Oklahoma
37. Oregon
38. Pennsylvania
39. Rhode Island
40. South Carolina
41. South Dakota
42. Tennessee
43. Texas
44. Utah
45. Vermont
46. Virginia
47. Washington
48. West Virginia
49. Wisconsin
50. Wyoming

Common Snags When Sorting States A–Z

Alphabetical lists sound simple until small details trip you. These are the mistakes that show up in homework, mailing lists, and data entry.

Sorting “New,” “North,” And “South”

States that start with “New” group together: New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York. States that start with “North” group together: North Carolina, North Dakota. The same goes for South Carolina and South Dakota.

If you’re sorting in a spreadsheet, treat the full state name as one text value. Don’t split “North” into a separate column unless you have a reason, since that changes the order.

Spacing And Punctuation

Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and West Virginia include a space. Keep the space in the name field. In most sorting tools, spaces are handled consistently, so you don’t need special tricks. Just avoid extra leading spaces, since those can make a name sort oddly.

Also watch abbreviations with periods. Postal abbreviations use two letters without periods, like CA, NY, and TX.

State Versus Capital Confusion

Some capitals share a state name pattern that can fool your brain. Oklahoma is a state; Oklahoma City is a city. Washington is a state; Washington, D.C. is a federal district. When you build a list for a class or a form, label the column “State” to keep it clean.

Alphabetical Order Versus Admission Order

Some textbooks ask for states by the date they joined the Union. That list begins with Delaware and ends with Hawaii. If a worksheet says “order of statehood,” don’t use A–Z. If it says “alphabetical,” stick with the name order above.

Alphabetical State Reference Table With Abbreviations And Capitals

If you’re mailing letters, creating labels, or cleaning up a data set, you’ll also want the two-letter postal abbreviations. USPS publishes the standard abbreviations used for addressing in its Postal Explorer appendix. USPS state and possession abbreviations are the baseline that most forms and databases expect.

Use the table as a quick cross-check. It can also help when a form asks for a state abbreviation and you only know the full name.

State	Postal Abbrev.	Capital
Alabama	AL	Montgomery
Alaska	AK	Juneau
Arizona	AZ	Phoenix
Arkansas	AR	Little Rock
California	CA	Sacramento
Colorado	CO	Denver
Connecticut	CT	Hartford
Delaware	DE	Dover
Florida	FL	Tallahassee
Georgia	GA	Atlanta
Hawaii	HI	Honolulu
Idaho	ID	Boise
Illinois	IL	Springfield
Indiana	IN	Indianapolis
Iowa	IA	Des Moines
Kansas	KS	Topeka
Kentucky	KY	Frankfort
Louisiana	LA	Baton Rouge
Maine	ME	Augusta
Maryland	MD	Annapolis
Massachusetts	MA	Boston
Michigan	MI	Lansing
Minnesota	MN	Saint Paul
Mississippi	MS	Jackson
Missouri	MO	Jefferson City
Montana	MT	Helena
Nebraska	NE	Lincoln
Nevada	NV	Carson City
New Hampshire	NH	Concord
New Jersey	NJ	Trenton
New Mexico	NM	Santa Fe
New York	NY	Albany
North Carolina	NC	Raleigh
North Dakota	ND	Bismarck
Ohio	OH	Columbus
Oklahoma	OK	Oklahoma City
Oregon	OR	Salem
Pennsylvania	PA	Harrisburg
Rhode Island	RI	Providence
South Carolina	SC	Columbia
South Dakota	SD	Pierre
Tennessee	TN	Nashville
Texas	TX	Austin
Utah	UT	Salt Lake City
Vermont	VT	Montpelier
Virginia	VA	Richmond
Washington	WA	Olympia
West Virginia	WV	Charleston
Wisconsin	WI	Madison
Wyoming	WY	Cheyenne

State Name Spelling Checks That Save Points

Teachers and online forms tend to flag misspellings right away. A quick scan for these names can prevent a messy redo.

• Massachusetts: Watch the “chus” in the middle.
• Connecticut: No “e” after the “n” (not “Conneticut”).
• Pennsylvania: One “n” after the “pe,” then two in the middle.
• Mississippi: It’s long, so write it slowly: miss-iss-ipp-i.
• Tennessee: The middle has double “s” and double “e.”

If you’re building flashcards, put the tricky spellings on one side and the clean spelling on the other. Write the answer, don’t just say it out loud. Your hand catches errors your eyes miss.

How To Use An A–Z State List In Schoolwork

If you’re studying geography or civics, alphabetical order is handy for self-quizzing. Hide part of the list and try to fill it back in. Then check your spelling. This catches the easy points teachers love: correct names, correct order, clean handwriting.

Try these quick drills:

• Letter groups: Write all states starting with M, then check against the list.
• Neighbor pairs: Pick a state and name the states directly above and below it in A–Z order.
• Capital match: Write the capitals from memory, then verify with the table.
• Abbrev. match: Cover the abbreviation column and fill it in from memory.

Don’t race. Accuracy beats speed when grades depend on it.

Washington, D.C. And U.S. Territories In Alphabetical Order

Many forms ask for more than the 50 states. You may see Washington, D.C., plus territories and possessions. Postal abbreviations cover these too. For coding and data work, you may also run into numeric identifiers such as ANSI or FIPS codes published by the U.S. Census Bureau. Census Bureau ANSI and FIPS code lists explain the state-equivalent codes used across federal datasets.

On worksheets, these areas may appear in bonus questions. On government datasets, they can appear right beside states. Treat them as separate entries so your totals don’t drift.

Area	Postal Abbrev.	State FIPS Code
American Samoa	AS	60
District of Columbia	DC	11
Federated States of Micronesia	FM	64
Guam	GU	66
Marshall Islands	MH	68
Northern Mariana Islands	MP	69
Palau	PW	70
Puerto Rico	PR	72
U.S. Minor Outlying Islands	UM	74
U.S. Virgin Islands	VI	78

Copy-Friendly Formats For Notes, Spreadsheets, And Flashcards

Different tasks call for different layouts. If you’re copying into a spreadsheet, a one-state-per-row layout works best. If you’re writing notes by hand, grouping can save space.

One-column list For spreadsheets

Paste the A–Z list as a single column, then add your own columns beside it. Common add-ons include postal abbreviations, capitals, time zones, statehood year, or a check box for study progress.

Once it’s in your sheet, turn on filters. Then you can jump to any letter group in seconds. This also helps when you’re fixing entries in a long list of addresses.

Comma-separated line For typing

Some online forms want a text line, not a table. In that case, copy the list and convert it into one comma-separated line. It reads like this: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona… Then you can paste it into notes or a study doc without a tall block of text.

Two-pass check For clean data entry

When you type states into a form or a data set, do a two-pass check:

1. Scan for spelling and spacing mistakes (New Mexico, not NewMexico).
2. Scan for swapped items (North Dakota placed before North Carolina).

This small habit prevents messy filters and broken charts later.

Postal Abbreviations In Real Addresses

On envelopes and shipping labels, the abbreviation sits after the city name, followed by the ZIP Code. This is the format you’ll see on most U.S. mail: City, ST 12345.

If you’re teaching a younger student, a mini drill helps:

1. Pick five states from the list.
2. Write each state’s abbreviation from the table.
3. Write a mock address line using “Sample City, ST 12345.”

This ties the letters to a real task, so the abbreviations stick.

Fast Memory Tricks That Don’t Feel Like Work

If memorizing all 50 states feels heavy, break it into bite-size chunks. Start with ten states at a time. Read them out loud. Then write them once from memory.

These tricks stay simple and school-safe:

• Anchor points: Memorize the first five and the last five. Then fill the middle.
• Same-letter bundles: Group the “M” states (Maine through Montana) and learn them as one set.
• Mini-tests: Set a timer for three minutes and write as many as you can in order.
• Reverse run: Try listing them from Wyoming back to Alabama. It feels odd at first, then it clicks.

After a few rounds, you’ll notice your brain grabbing the next state name with less effort.

When A Different Order Makes More Sense

Alphabetical order is great for lookup. Some assignments want a different order. A map quiz may want regions. A history worksheet may want statehood dates. A mailing list may sort by ZIP Code range. Use the A–Z list as your base, then sort by the column that matches the task.

If you share your file with others, name the column clearly: “State (A–Z),” “Capital,” “Abbrev.,” or “Code.” Clear labels prevent mix-ups.