In a U.S. mailing address, CT means Connecticut when it sits on the last line next to a city and ZIP code, and it means Court when it appears as a street suffix on the delivery line. The U.S. Postal Service uses the same two letters for both, and the position on the envelope tells you which one applies.1Postal Explorer. Publication 28 – Postal Addressing Standards Appendix B2Postal Explorer. Publication 28 – C1 Street Suffix Abbreviations
How to Tell Which CT You’re Looking At
Check the line. The last line of a mailing address holds the city, the state abbreviation, and the ZIP code, in that order. CT on that line is always Connecticut:
JANE SMITH
100 MAIN ST
HARTFORD CT 06103
CT on the delivery address line is the street suffix for Court. An address reading 45 OAK CT means 45 Oak Court.2Postal Explorer. Publication 28 – C1 Street Suffix Abbreviations Postal sorting equipment reads each line separately, so the two uses never collide inside the system.
Connecticut has had CT as its official two-letter abbreviation since the Post Office Department rolled out ZIP codes on July 1, 1963.3United States Postal Service. State Abbreviations Older short forms like Ct., Conn., and CONN were retired at that point.4United States Postal Service. State Abbreviations
How to Write a Connecticut Address Correctly
USPS Publication 28 sets out the format for the last line:5Postal Explorer. Publication 28 – Postal Addressing Standards – Section: 224 Format
- One space between the city name and CT.
- Two spaces between CT and the ZIP code (one space is accepted, two is preferred).
- Uppercase letters throughout the address are preferred.
A properly formatted address looks like this:
JANE SMITH
100 MAIN ST
HARTFORD CT 06103
There is no comma between the city and the state. The USPS prefers addresses without punctuation other than the hyphen in a ZIP+4 code.6Postal Explorer. Publication 28 – Postal Addressing Standards – Section: 222 Punctuation A comma won’t delay your mail, but leaving it out matches the standard.
What Happens If You Use the Wrong State Abbreviation
If the state letters are wrong but the ZIP code is correct, mail almost always arrives. Sorting equipment relies on the ZIP, and the numbers generally override the letters.
Connecticut ZIP codes all begin with a three-digit prefix between 060 and 069. If CT is paired with a ZIP starting outside that range, something is wrong, and the address is worth checking before it goes out. When both the state abbreviation and the ZIP are wrong or missing, the piece may come back stamped “No Such Office in State.”7Postal Explorer. 507 Mailer Services