Field guide
State vs Province vs Region
Many countries use an administrative field between city and country, but the label changes. A U.S. address uses state, Canada uses province or territory, Japan uses prefecture, and the UK may use county or no required region field.
Common labels
- State: United States, Australia, India, and other countries.
- Province: Canada and some other countries.
- Prefecture: Japan.
- Region or county: useful generic labels for some international forms.
- Territory: used in countries such as Canada and Australia.
Form design advice
Change the label and allowed values after the user selects a country. If that is not possible, "State / Province / Region" is usually clearer than "State" alone.
QA notes
Test countries where the field is required, optional, unavailable, or represented by a dropdown. Also test two-letter abbreviations, full names, and long regional names.
Country-aware field matrix
| Country | User-facing label | Typical behavior to test |
|---|---|---|
| United States | State | Required; accept a two-letter code and display the full name where useful |
| Canada | Province / Territory | Required in most shipping flows; do not reuse a US state list |
| Japan | Prefecture | Required; preserve Japanese text and local ordering |
| United Kingdom | County / Region | Often optional; Post Town and postcode usually matter more |
| Singapore | Region | Often unnecessary for a postal form; avoid inventing a required state |
Storage recommendation
Keep a stable internal key, the submitted label, and the country code as separate values. Do not place every administrative area in one global enum: names change, countries use different levels, and some addresses need no region at all. When the country changes, clear or remap the previous region value before submission.
Regression case: select United States and California, switch the country to Japan, then submit. The record should not retain California in a hidden field, and the interface should request a prefecture using Japan-specific validation.