Knowing how to write an address sounds trivial until you're staring at a letter, an envelope, and an email signature that each want something slightly different. The format shifts depending on the type: a mailing address on an envelope follows one convention, a return address another, a business letter heading a third. Get it wrong and packages get lost, letters look unprofessional, and forms get rejected. This guide covers the most common address types with concrete examples for each.
Mailing address on an envelope
The standard format for a mailing address in the United States places the recipient's name on the first line, the street address or P.O. Box on the second, and the city, state abbreviation, and ZIP code on the third. No punctuation separates the state abbreviation from the ZIP code. The United States Postal Service recommends all-caps with no punctuation for machine-readable mail, though mixed case is widely accepted for personal and professional correspondence.
A correctly formatted example looks like this:
- Jane Hoffman
- 4821 Meridian Ave, Suite 200
- Chicago, IL 60601
If you're writing to someone at a company, place the company name on the second line and the street address on the third. The recipient's name stays on line one. Adding "Attn:" before the name is optional but useful when the letter needs to reach a specific person inside a large organisation.
Return address
The return address appears in the top-left corner of an envelope or parcel. It uses the same three-line structure as the recipient's address: your name, your street address, then city, state, and ZIP. Don't label it "From:" on standard business correspondence. The position tells the postal service what it is.
On a letter sent on behalf of a company, use the company name as the first line rather than your personal name, unless the letter is personal in nature.
Address block in a business letter
A business letter includes two address blocks: your own (the sender's address, usually printed in the letterhead) and the recipient's address, placed flush left below the date. The recipient block in a formal letter is slightly more detailed than an envelope address. It typically runs four lines and includes the person's full name, job title, company name, street address, and city/state/ZIP.
For guidance on how the address fits into the full opening of a letter, the post on friendly introduction ideas for business letters covers how to move naturally from the address block into your first sentence.
A standard recipient block looks like this:
- Marcus T. Webb
- Director of Operations
- Clearview Logistics Inc.
- 390 Harbor Boulevard
- Portland, OR 97201
Notice the title sits on its own line, between the name and the company. If the title is short, you can place it on the same line as the name, separated by a comma: "Marcus T. Webb, Director of Operations." Either works. Pick one and stay consistent across a document set.
International address formats
International addresses don't follow a single standard. The country you're writing to determines the format. In the United Kingdom, the postcode sits on its own line before the country name. In Germany, the postal code precedes the city on the same line. In Japan, addresses read from largest to smallest geographic unit, the opposite of the US convention.
The safest practice for international mail is to write the address in the format native to the destination country, then add the destination country name in English on the final line, in all caps. This helps postal workers in your own country route the letter before it crosses the border.
A UK-bound letter from the US might end:
- 15 Falcon Road
- London
- SW11 2PY
- UNITED KINGDOM
Email signature address
An email signature address is more compressed than a postal address. Most professionals use a single line: street address, city, state, ZIP, separated by commas. Some include the country if they correspond internationally. Unlike an envelope, punctuation is standard here because the address isn't being read by a machine.
A clean email signature address reads: 4821 Meridian Ave, Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60601. That's it. No label, no "Address:", just the address itself as part of the contact block below your name and title.
If your email correspondence often reaches people unfamiliar with salutation conventions, the post on greetings and salutations: which to use and when is a useful companion read for getting the full opening of a business email right.
Address on a form or document
Forms use labelled fields: "Street Address," "City," "State," "ZIP Code." You're filling in boxes, so format doesn't apply the same way. But when a form asks for a single free-text address field, use the standard three-line format collapsed into one line with commas: 4821 Meridian Ave Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60601. Omit the comma between the state abbreviation and the ZIP. That's the one spot in a comma-separated address where the comma disappears.
P.O. Box addresses
A P.O. Box address replaces the street address line entirely. Never write both a P.O. Box and a street address on the same address block if you expect the mail to reach a specific location. The postal service delivers to whichever appears first, which may not be where you intended. Write "P.O. Box" followed by the box number, then city, state, and ZIP on the next line.
Example:
- Sandra Okafor
- P.O. Box 7714
- Austin, TX 78701
Abbreviations and punctuation
State abbreviations in the US are always two letters, no periods: NY, CA, TX, IL. Street type abbreviations like Ave, Blvd, St, and Dr are widely accepted in addresses and don't require periods, though style guides differ. The USPS Publication 28 lists official abbreviations for street suffixes, directional indicators, and secondary unit designators if you need the authoritative list.
Commas separate the city from the state. No comma separates the state from the ZIP. That's the rule, and it's the one most people get backwards. Write "Chicago, IL 60601" not "Chicago, IL, 60601."
When someone has a title or honorific
Honorifics like Dr., Prof., or military ranks appear before the name on the first line of an address block. "Dr. Elena Fuentes" or "Col. James Whitfield." If you're unsure which honorific applies, the post on when to use Miss, Mrs, Ms, and Mx covers the most common professional titles in detail.
For business correspondence to a named individual at a company, the job title goes on a separate line below the name, not next to it on the same line, unless the title is very short. Long titles squeezed onto one line with a name make the address block harder to read and harder to process.
Each address type has its own logic. Once you know which type you're writing, the rules are straightforward. The confusion almost always comes from applying envelope conventions to a letter heading, or letter conventions to a form field.