Nevada Abbreviation: NV and Nev.

What is the abbreviation for Nevada in each setting?

NV is the only form postal equipment expects. Nev. comes from the older habit of clipping state names, and it is now limited mostly to newsrooms. Everywhere else, the full name reads best. Every state's codes are collected on our state abbreviations page.

Why the Nevada abbreviation is NV and not NE

Eight states begin with N, and the post office needed a unique pair of letters for each. NE went to Nebraska, NH to New Hampshire, NJ to New Jersey, NM to New Mexico and NY to New York. North Carolina and North Dakota took NC and ND. That left Nevada with the first letter plus the distinctive V.

If you have ever addressed a Las Vegas package to NE, it was headed for Nebraska first. A memory trick: the V in NV is the V in Vegas. See the Nebraska abbreviation page for the other half of this mix up.

Nev. and AP style

AP style writes Nevada in full inside a story but keeps Nev. for datelines. So a report might open "CARSON CITY, Nev." and then mention "the Nevada desert" in the next line. Some sports listings and old reference books also use Nev.

If you are not writing for a news outlet that follows these rules, you can skip Nev. entirely. The full name is only six letters, and it avoids any doubt.

Writing NV on mail

• Use capitals: NV, not Nv or nv.
• Do not add periods.
• Put a space between NV and the ZIP code.
• Nevada ZIP codes fall in the 889 to 898 range, so they always start with 8.

If you are unsure about the Apt. in that address line, our guide to the apartment abbreviation covers it.

Nevada in real sentences

Here is how each form looks in everyday writing.

• "Send the permit request to the county office in Elko, NV."
• "State of residence: NV."
• "RENO, Nev. (a news dateline)"
• "Nevada joined the Union in 1864, during the Civil War."
• "We drove from Utah into Nevada before sunrise."

Notice that the code appears only in the address style lines. Once a sentence starts to tell a story, the full state name takes over. Neighboring states follow the same pattern, as the Utah abbreviation and California abbreviation guides show.