What State Am I In?

Find your U.S. state from your location or a street address — using official Census boundaries, accurate right up to the state line.

  • Your location
  • Street address
  • City or place
  • ZIP code
Finding your state…

Or enter a city and state, a full street address, or a ZIP:

How we know — the official state boundaries

Your state is determined from the U.S. Census Bureau’s state boundaries, computed by the Census Bureau’s own geocoder — not a crowd-sourced map that can drift near a border. For most of the country the answer is obvious, but along a river or a surveyed state line the exact boundary is what decides which state’s laws and taxes apply to a given address.

How to find your state

  1. Share your location or type your address. Allow location access when your browser asks, or enter your street address.
  2. We check the official state boundaries. Your point is tested against the U.S. Census Bureau’s state boundaries.
  3. See your state. Your state appears with a link to explore all of its counties.

Why your state is the boundary that matters most

Your state sets the laws you live under, the income and sales taxes you pay, the court system that hears most cases, your driver’s license and vehicle registration, and how you vote in federal and state elections. It’s the single widest-reaching jurisdiction over daily life — which is why, near a state line, standing on the correct side of the boundary genuinely changes the rules that apply to you.

Common questions

Can a ZIP code be in two states?

Yes — a small number of ZIP codes deliver mail across a state line. That’s why this tool uses your location or a full street address rather than a ZIP, which can be ambiguous at the border.

Why is my mailing state different from where I am?

It usually isn’t, but a mailing address reflects the post office that serves you, which can occasionally sit just across a line. Your location, tested against the boundary, is the physically correct answer.

What about Washington, D.C., and the territories?

The District of Columbia isn’t a state, but this tool covers it — it names the District and links to its page. Territories like Puerto Rico and Guam aren’t states either; the tool names them too and notes that they aren’t one of the 50 states.

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