We separate the different elements of a location (street address, city, and state) with commas.

We separate the different elements of a location (street address, city, and state) with commas.

My sister lives at 15 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, North Carolina.

My sister lives at 15 Biltmore Avenue Asheville North Carolina.

When writing a complete address, do not place a comma between the state and the zip code.

I live at 105 Dorchester Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02127.

1. Locations

Typically, a location has three elements:

1. street address
2. city
3. state

All you need to do is separate these three elements with commas.

My office is located at 276 5th Street, San Francisco, California.

My office is located at 276 5th Street San Francisco California

We also use a comma to separate just two elements of a location (e.g., the city and the state).

After getting married in March 2019, we moved to Phoenix, Arizona.

Follow the same guidelines when mentioning two different locations:

My sister moved from San Antonio, Texas to Aurora, Illinois.

If you are indicating just one element (e.g., the state or the street), there is no need for comma.

Child support guidelines in Nevada can be found on our website.

Halsted Street will be on your left.

If the state does not come at the end of the sentence, use a comma to separate it from the rest of the sentence.

My wife went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, last week.

My wife went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania last week.

When adding a date or time interval to a location, bear also in mind the use of commas with dates.

I lived in Chicago, Illinois, from November 13, 2018 to March 27, 2020.

Recommended: How to punctuate adverbs of place

2. Complete Address

A complete address usually has five parts:

1. street address
2. apartment or suite number
3. city
4. state
5. zip code

We use a comma to separate the first four elements (street, apartment, city, and state). We do not insert a comma between the state and the zip code.

The address is 2717 Stark Street, Apt. 3B, Portland, Oregon 97202.

If using a person's name in front of the address, add a comma after the name.

Oliver Smith, 53663 Bee Cave Rd, Austin, Texas 78746.

When using three lines to write an address (e.g., at the top of a letter or on a package), do not use commas between the lines.

Olivia Miller
3123 Madison Street, Apt. 1B
San Francisco, California 94107

You can also indicate the country at the end of the address. Use a comma to separate it from the zip code.

They live at 9001 Lake Rd, Suite 5, Anchorage, Alaska 99502, United States.

3. More Examples

• Mary got a call from Grand Forks, North Dakota, yesterday.
• She is Ava Miller and lives at 4236 Pace row St., North Charleston, South Carolina 29405, United States.
• The letter arrived from 3123 Wellington Street, Chicago, IL 60655, United States.
• I got a call from Honolulu, Hawaii yesterday.
• Please send the package to Charlotte Williams, 1609 E Montgomery Cross Rd, Savannah, Georgia 31406.
• My aunt lives on Peterson Avenue.
• They moved here from Seattle, Washington
• The hardware store is located at 3898 SW 56th St., Miami, Florida 33175.
• The stadium is in Columbus, Ohio.
• Reserve your stay in North Charleston, South Carolina, at Residence Inn Charleston Airport.
• My uncle John lives at 2533 S Robertson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90034.
• We drove from Morgantown, West Virginia to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

4. Conclusion

Follow these simple rules to punctuate correctly a location or an address in English:

1. Separate the different parts of the address (street address, apartment or suite number, city, and state) with a comma.
2. Do not place a comma between the state and the zip code.
3. If the address is written on three lines, do not put a comma after each line.