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.
Some countries do not normally use this field in the domestic postal block. For example, the German address format and French address format should not be forced into a U.S.-style state requirement.
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.