QA Guide
U.S. Address Format Guide for QA & Form Testing
A form can accept an address on screen and still lose a suite number or split a city name when it saves. Use these examples to test the full path from entry to storage, export, and display.
How a U.S. mailing address is laid out
For a typical street address, put the recipient first, followed by the delivery line with the house number and street. The last line contains the city, two-letter state abbreviation, and ZIP Code.
QA TEST RECIPIENT
100 EXAMPLE ST APT 4B
ALBANY NY 12207The street line above is a QA fixture. In a form with separate fields, enter the street on Address Line 1 and the apartment on Address Line 2. Check that the mailing-label renderer puts the unit at the end of the delivery line when it fits.
Street suffixes and secondary units
Common USPS suffix abbreviations include ST for Street, AVE for Avenue, and BLVD for Boulevard. Test both spelled-out and abbreviated input. If your app standardizes suffixes, check that it changes only the suffix. For example, it should leave the first word of Avenue A intact.
Use APT 4B to test an apartment and STE 210 to test a suite. For a private mailbox at a commercial mail receiving agency, preserve the provider's assigned format and mailbox number, such as PMB 204. Keep PMB distinct from a suite when storing or rendering the address.
USPS street suffix abbreviations · USPS secondary unit designators · USPS private mailbox formatting
Common address validation bugs
Run each case through form submission, then reopen the saved record. Repeat the checks on any label preview, clipboard output, or CSV export your app provides.
| Test input | Expected behavior |
|---|---|
| 100 Example Street | Accept the full suffix. If you standardize mailing labels, map Street to ST in the suffix position. |
| 100 Example Ave Apt 4B | Keep the unit identifier 4B intact. Verify that it survives saving, editing, and printing. |
| Jersey City | Store and display the whole city name in one field. Preserve the space when copying or exporting it. |
| NY and 12207 | Keep the two-letter state code and five-digit ZIP Code in separate fields. |
| Blank Address Line 2 | Accept the address when no secondary unit is required. Skip the empty line in the preview. |
Format validation checks whether the fields have the expected shape. Use a separate address verification step when a production workflow needs to establish deliverability.
Try the address generator
Use the U.S. Address Generator to try records from the available states, or start with the New York Address Generator. Generated records are for QA and software testing. USPS deliverability is unverified.
Testing storage and spreadsheet exports? Read How to Validate U.S. ZIP Codes & Preserve Leading Zeros.