A two-digit Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code (FIPS 5-2) uniquely identifies a state, territory, or commonwealth within or of the U.S.. These codes are used by the U.S. Census Bureau, and in the Emergency Alert System, and were assigned by NIST. Additional numbers used with the EAS for territorial waters of the U.S. were assigned by the FCC, but are not part of the FIPS standard. Two-letter state codes were assigned as postal abbreviations by the USPS.
http://www.itl.nist.gov/fipspubs/fip5-2.htm
Last updated: 02-07-2005 16:15:25
Last updated: 05-03-2005 17:50:55