What determine's a state's two-letter abbreviation?

Question

Two-word states are abbreviated according to the first letters of each word. Many states are abbreviated differently because other states would have the same initials alphabetically (like Alabama and Alaska). Otherwise, the trend seems to be for the first two letters of the state's name...except we have abbreviated states such as GA and TX. Why isn't Georgia GE, or Texas TE?

What is the pattern, if any?

Answer 1

The US Postal Service standardized the use of two letter abbreviations for states and other areas under their jurisdiction. Before, people might use the whole state name or use their own abbreviation which might not be understood by all postal employees - is "Miss." short for Mississippi or Missouri. or is "Te" short for Texas or Tennessee?

When they created the official list of two letter abbreviations, there was no single pattern they used, because state names were varied.
For some states, using the first two letters of the state's name made sense, and did not create confusion. For states whose names were two words, they used the initials of each word. Some states, they used the first and last letters of the state's name. And for the remaining states, they chose the first letter and second consonant in the state's name. Often, they might have used a common two-letter abbreviation that was already in use. Georgia was commonly abbreviated Ga. long before the postal service created the standards, and Virginia was similarly Va.

When the postal service started using machines to read addresses and sort mail, having abbreviations made it much easier for the machines to recognize characters and sort mail more efficiently.

So there is no one single pattern, simply because one pattern might not work for all states.

Besides, the 50 states, the USPS also needed to designate two letter codes for DC, various islands under US control (Guam, Samoa, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, etc), overseas US military departments. Two codes are now obsolete: CZ (for Canal Zone, when the US operated and controlled the Panama Canal), and TT for Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, which has since been divided into three different states, with their own two letter abbreviations.

Answer 2

The two-letter abbreviation for each state was determined by the United States Postal Service.

Answer 3

The federal government set up the codes because they're the ones who deliver the mail. The codes were chosen in an attempt to be easily remembered and recognized. TX is more easily recognized as Texas than TE would be. GE could be confusing, especially with General Electric. I'm sure they didn't get it perfect, but that's what they were trying to do.

Answer 4

It's just to make it the most recognizable to the average American. The post office determined that more people could figure out Texas from TX than TE. Can't say I really blame them, makes sense to me.

Answer 5

USPS