An up-to-date list of states and territories of the United States in JSON

Names and abbreviations of 50 states + 1 federal district + 5 territories, updated in 2023

2 min readNov 8, 2023

Search results for US states territories JSON return outdated results that contain former territories (e.g., Palau). The best, up-to-date resources, Wikipedia, requires extra processing to use the values, which I did and put the results in ready-to-use format. Lastly, I shared some questions and answers I had while compiling the material at the bottom of the story. Hope this resource is helpful for anyone reading!

The lists are published in this gist. There are 3 combinations, each with array and object format.

50 states: Array & Object
50 states + federal district: Array & Object
50 states + federal district + 5 territories: Array & Object

Array (of object) format

[
    {
        "name": "Alabama",
        "abbreviation": "AL"
    },
    {
        "name": "Alaska",
        "abbreviation": "AK"
    },
...
]

Object format

{
    "AL": "Alabama",
    "AK": "Alaska",
    "AZ": "Arizona",
    ...
}

Questions I had

What are the five territories?

American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands, all of which are inhabited. Technically, there are more territories; however, they are either uninhabited or disputed. Given the purpose of the list is to use in forms, there’s no reason to list out other territories.

How about Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, and Palau?

All of these three countries are freely associated states (FAS). From CIA’s World Factbook the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Marshall Islands,

In 1982, the [FSM¹/Marshall Islands²] signed a Compact of Free Association (COFA) with the US, which granted the [FSM/Marshall Islands] financial assistance and access to many US domestic programs in exchange for exclusive US military access and defense responsibilities; the COFA entered into force in 1986 and its funding was renewed in 2003.

For Palau,

In 1982, Palau signed a Compact of Free Association (COFA) with the US, which granted Palau financial assistance and access to many US domestic programs in exchange for exclusive US military access and defense responsibilities.³

They are not US territories, but they have tight connections with the US government on diplomatic, economic, and military relations.⁴ But again, many countries have tight connections with the US. To sum, as long as the scope of the form focus on domestic area, FSM, Marshall Islands, and Palau should not be listed as choices for states.

References

¹Micronesia, Federated States of — The World Factbook. (n.d.). https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/micronesia-federated-states-of/#introduction

²Marshall Islands — The World Factbook. (n.d.). https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/marshall-islands/

³Palau — The World Factbook. (n.d.). https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/palau/

⁴Office of Island Affairs | CDC. (n.d.). https://www.cdc.gov/islandaffairs/index.html