State FIPS Codes: The Complete Reference List

State FIPS codes are 2-digit numeric identifiers assigned to every US state, the District of Columbia, and five territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands). They were standardized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and are now maintained as ANSI INCITS 38. Our complete state FIPS code list covers all 57 entries.

The codes are not alphabetical — they were assigned roughly in alphabetical order but with gaps that allowed for territorial additions. Alabama is 01, Alaska is 02, Arizona is 04 (California was inserted as 06 before Colorado got 08). This means you cannot derive a state FIPS code from a state name without a lookup table, which is precisely why tools like this one exist.

In practice, state FIPS codes appear as the first two digits of every county FIPS code, Census tract GEOID, and block group identifier. When joining datasets, it's common to see state FIPS stored as a character field with a leading zero (e.g., "06" for California) rather than an integer (6). Losing that leading zero is one of the most common data errors in FIPS-based analysis — always store FIPS codes as strings.

Browse any state's full county list and data profile by clicking through on the state codes guide. For example, Washington state (FIPS 53) has 39 counties, each with its own 5-digit code. California (FIPS 06) has 58. You can also use the search tool to jump directly to any state or county by name or code.