State

States are the primary governmental divisions of the United States. The District of Columbia is treated as a statistical equivalent of a state for decennial census The census of population and housing, taken by the Census Bureau in years ending in 0 (zero). Article I of the Constitution requires that a census be taken every 10 years for the purpose of reapportioning the U.S. House of Representatives. purposes, as are Puerto Rico and each of the four Island Areas.

Each state and statistically equivalent entity is assigned a two-digit numeric Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) code Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) codes are assigned for a variety of geographic entities, including American Indian and Alaska Native area, Congressional District, County, County Subdivision,Core Based Statistical Area, Place, and State. in alphabetical order by state name, followed in alphabetical order by the Island Areas and Puerto Rico. Each state and statistically equivalent entity also is assigned a two-letter FIPS/U.S. Postal Service code and a two-digit census code. The census code is assigned on the basis of the geographic sequence of each state within each census division; the first digit of the code identifies the respective division, except for Puerto Rico and the Island Areas, which are not assigned to any region or division.