What does 'State FIPS' mean?

FIPS state codes were numeric and two-letter alphabetic codes defined in U.S. Federal Information Processing Standard Publication ("FIPS PUB") 5-2 to identify U.S. states and certain other associated areas.

FIPS state alpha code for each U.S. states and the District of Columbia are identical to the postal abbreviations by the United States Postal Service. The same was true of the alpha code for each of the outlying areas, with the exception of U.S. Minor Outlying Islands (UM) as the USPS routes mail for these islands indirectly.

You can use the FIPS state alpha code to query the zip code of the state.
The following table shows the state FIPS, the state name, and the abbreviation of the state.

FIPS PUB 5-1 (published on June 15, 1970, and superseded by FIPS PUB 5-2 on May 28, 1987) stated that certain numeric codes "are reserved for possible future use in identifying American Samoa (03), Canal Zone (07), Guam (14), Puerto Rico (43), and Virgin Islands (52)", but these codes were omitted from FIPS PUB 5-2 without comment. These areas are marked with a ** and highlighted in red in the table below. The smaller outlying islands also have no letter code, only one total smaller outlying island territory, the letter code is represented by UM, and the numeric code is indicated by 74, as detailed in the table below.

State Name	Alpha code	Numeric code
Alabama	AL	01
Alaska	AK	02
American Samoa	AS	60
American Samoa**		03
Arizona	AZ	04
Arkansas	AR	05
Baker Island		81
California	CA	06
Canal Zone**		07
Colorado	CO	08
Connecticut	CT	09
Delaware	DE	10
District of Columbia	DC	11
Florida	FL	12
Federated States of Micronesia	FM	64
Georgia	GA	13
Guam**		14
Guam	GU	66
Hawaii	HI	15
Howland Island		84
Idaho	ID	16
Illinois	IL	17
Indiana	IN	18
Iowa	IA	19
Jarvis Island		86
Johnston Atoll		67
Kansas	KS	20
Kentucky	KY	21
Kingman Reef		89
Louisiana	LA	22
Maine	ME	23
Marshall Islands	MH	68
Maryland	MD	24
Massachusetts	MA	25
Michigan	MI	26
Midway Islands		71
Minnesota	MN	27
Mississippi	MS	28
Missouri	MO	29
Montana	MT	30
Navassa Island		76
Nebraska	NE	31
Nevada	NV	32
New Hampshire	NH	33
New Jersey	NJ	34
New Mexico	NM	35
New York	NY	36
North Carolina	NC	37
North Dakota	ND	38
Northern Mariana Islands	MP	69
Ohio	OH	39
Oklahoma	OK	40
Oregon	OR	41
Palau	PW	70
Palmyra Atoll		95
Pennsylvania	PA	42
Puerto Rico**		43
Puerto Rico	PR	72
Rhode Island	RI	44
South Carolina	SC	45
South Dakota	SD	46
Tennessee	TN	47
Texas	TX	48
U.S. Minor Outlying Islands	UM	74
Utah	UT	49
Vermont	VT	50
Virginia	VA	51
Virgin Islandsof the U.S.**		52
Virgin Islandsof the U.S.	VI	78
Wake Island		79
Washington	WA	53
West Virginia	WV	54
Wisconsin	WI	55
Wyoming	WY	56