The official New Mexico abbreviation is NM, the official mailing code for the state, with no periods and no space. In traditional writing, such as news datelines and older reference books, the state is shortened to N.M., written with two periods.
Either way, you are naming the same place: the southwestern state whose capital is Santa Fe and whose largest city is Albuquerque. NM belongs on envelopes, labels and form fields. N.M. belongs in certain styles of print. In ordinary sentences, the safest choice is to write out New Mexico.
Quick facts
Postal code
NMTraditional abbreviation
N.M.Older variant
N. Mex.AP style
N.M. in datelines; New Mexico spelled out in story textZIP codes
Begin with 87 or 88Not to be confused with
NV (Nevada), NE (Nebraska), MX (Mexico)
New Mexico abbreviation by situation
| Where you are writing | Use | Sample |
|---|---|---|
| Envelope or package | NM | Las Cruces, NM 88001 |
| State box on a form | NM | State: NM |
| Newspaper dateline | N.M. | TAOS, N.M. |
| Old letters, records, citations | N.M. or N. Mex. | Roswell, N. Mex. |
| Essays, emails, reports | New Mexico | "We drove across New Mexico." |
The pattern is simple. Machines and boxes get the two letter code. People reading full sentences get the whole name.
NM on mail, labels and online forms
The postal code was built for speed and for sorting equipment, so it uses only capital letters and never takes periods. Put it after the city, then the ZIP code. New Mexico ZIP codes begin with 87 or 88, which is a quick check that the address belongs to the state.
Shipping label:
Marcus Yazzie
210 Canyon Rd
Santa Fe, NM 87501
NM tells the carrier the state; the ZIP code points to the local post office area.
On a drop down list sorted by name, New Mexico usually appears between New Jersey and New York. If the list is sorted by code, it falls between NH and NJ on one side and NV and NY on the other, so a careless click can land on a neighbor. Double check before you submit.
When N.M. is the better pick
N.M. is the older, traditional abbreviation. News writers who follow AP style use it in datelines, the line in capitals that opens a story and says where it was reported. Inside the story itself, AP style spells out New Mexico. You may also see N.M. in some legal citations, older maps and library catalogs.
The longer N. Mex. shows up in older documents and some government style lists, where it helps avoid any mix up with other N states. You rarely need it today, but it is good to recognize when you find it in a family record or a historical source.
N codes people mix up
Eight states have names that begin with N, and their codes look alike. New Mexico is NM, built from the first letter of each word in its name. The others:
- Nevada is NV, not NE
- Nebraska is NE
- New Hampshire is NH
- New Jersey is NJ
- New York is NY
- North Carolina is NC
- North Dakota is ND
Another frequent error has nothing to do with states at all. Some people pick Mexico, the country, when filling in a New Mexico address, or write MX, which is a country code. New Mexico is a US state, so a domestic address with NM and a US ZIP code is all you need. The full list sits on the state abbreviations hub.
Other things NM can mean
Outside addresses, the letters NM have a few common jobs. In science, lowercase nm means nanometer, a billionth of a meter. In sailing and aviation, NM or nmi can mean nautical mile. In a quick text, "nm" often means "not much," as in a reply to "what's up." If the letters sit between a city name and a ZIP code, though, they mean New Mexico.
Questions people ask
What two letters stand for New Mexico on mail?
It is NM. Use capital letters with no periods on mail, shipping labels and forms.
Is New Mexico abbreviated NM or N.M.?
Both are correct in different places. NM is the postal code, while N.M. is the traditional abbreviation used in AP style datelines and some older writing.
Is NM the abbreviation for Nevada?
No. Nevada is NV. NM always stands for New Mexico in a US address.
Should I write New Mexico or NM in an essay?
Spell out New Mexico in regular sentences. Save NM for addresses, tables and forms where space is short.
What ZIP codes does New Mexico use?
New Mexico ZIP codes begin with 87 or 88. Seeing one of those next to NM is a good sign the address is correct.