City and Neighborhood Abbreviations
59 abbreviations · part of Geography & Place Abbreviations
Many cities and neighborhoods are known by initials or short coined names, from NYC and LA to SoHo, DTLA and CDMX. Some began as airport codes (PDX, ATL), some as real-estate branding (Nolita, NoMad) and some as local slang that spread through sports, music and social media. Entries explain where each name comes from and how locals use it.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ABQ | Albuquerque | Largest city in New Mexico, founded in 1706 on the Rio Grande, whose airport code ABQ is widely used as the city's nickname. |
| ATL | Atlanta | Capital of Georgia and economic center of the Southeast, whose airport code ATL is widely used as the city's nickname, especially in hip-hop. |
| ATX | Austin, Texas | Popular nickname for Austin, the Texas capital, combining A for Austin with TX, the state's postal code. |
| BA | Buenos Aires | Capital of Argentina, frequently shortened to BA by travelers and expatriates. |
| BK | Brooklyn | Most populous New York City borough, with about 2.7 million people, an independent city until it joined Greater New York in 1898. |
| CBD | Central business district | Commercial and office core of a city, the standard term for downtown in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and urban planning generally. |
| CDMX | Ciudad de México (Mexico City) | Official abbreviation for Mexico City since a 2016 reform turned the former Federal District into a city with the status of a state. |
| CHI | Chicago | Short form for Chicago in sports scoreboards, social media and local slang, as in Chi-Town. |
| CLT | Charlotte, North Carolina | Nickname for Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina and a major US banking center, taken from the airport code of Charlotte Douglas International. |
| DF | Distrito Federal (Mexico City) | Former designation of Mexico City as Mexico's Federal District, used on addresses, license plates and in everyday speech (el De Efe) until a 2016 reform renamed it… |
| DFW | Dallas–Fort Worth | Largest metropolitan area in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States, with about 8 million people, often called the Metroplex. |
| DTLA | Downtown Los Angeles | Central district of Los Angeles, including the Financial District, the Arts District, Little Tokyo and the Historic Core. |
| DUMBO | Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass | Brooklyn waterfront neighborhood between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges, a former industrial area now known for tech offices and the famous view of the Manhattan… |
| FiDi | Financial District | Southern tip of Manhattan around Wall Street, home to the New York Stock Exchange and the rebuilt World Trade Center. |
| HCMC | Ho Chi Minh City | Vietnam's largest city and economic center, renamed from Saigon in 1976 after the end of the Vietnam War. |
| JB | Johor Bahru | Malaysian city at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, across the causeway from Singapore, almost always called JB by Malaysians and Singaporeans. |
| JHB | Johannesburg | South Africa's largest city and economic center, founded in 1886 during the Witwatersrand gold rush. |
| KC | Kansas City | Common short form for Kansas City, the metro area that straddles the Missouri–Kansas state line. |
| KCK | Kansas City, Kansas | Short form for Kansas City, Kansas, a separate city of about 155,000 people across the state line from Kansas City, Missouri. |
| KCMO | Kansas City, Missouri | Precise short form for Kansas City, Missouri, the larger of the two Kansas Cities with about 510,000 residents, used by the city government itself and in local media to… |
| KL | Kuala Lumpur | Capital and largest city of Malaysia, whose name means muddy confluence in Malay, after its founding as a tin-mining settlement where two rivers meet. |
| LA | Los Angeles | Second-largest US city, with about 3.9 million residents, at the center of Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the nation at about 10 million. |
| LDN | London | Shorthand for London used on social media, in grime and drill music, branding and event listings. |
| LES | Lower East Side | Manhattan neighborhood that was the arrival point for generations of immigrants, now known for nightlife, galleries and historic delis. |
| LI | Long Island | Island extending about 118 miles east of Manhattan, containing the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens and the suburban counties of Nassau and Suffolk. |
| LIC | Long Island City | Queens neighborhood across the East River from Midtown Manhattan, transformed since the 2000s from an industrial waterfront into a district of high-rise apartments. |
| LoDo | Lower Downtown | Historic warehouse district of Denver around Union Station and Coors Field, transformed since the 1990s into a nightlife and residential area. |
| LV | Las Vegas | Nevada's largest city and the gambling and entertainment capital of the United States, founded in 1905 as a railroad town. |
| Mpls. | Minneapolis | Long-standing abbreviation for Minneapolis, Minnesota, used in newspapers, addresses, street signs and casual writing. |
| MSP | Minneapolis–Saint Paul | Short form for the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul and their metropolitan area of about 3.7 million people. |
| MTL | Montreal | Common abbreviation for Montreal, Canada's second-largest city and the largest predominantly French-speaking city in the Americas. |
| NoHo | North Hollywood | District of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley, known for the NoHo Arts District of small theaters and galleries. |
| NOLA | New Orleans, Louisiana | Nickname for New Orleans built from its city and state abbreviations (N.O. plus LA). |
| Nolita | North of Little Italy | Manhattan neighborhood north of Little Italy, between SoHo and the Bowery, known for boutiques and cafés. |
| NoMa | North of Massachusetts Avenue | Washington, D.C., neighborhood north of Massachusetts Avenue near Union Station, which grew rapidly in the 2000s with apartments and office buildings. |
| NoMad | North of Madison Square Park | Manhattan neighborhood north of Madison Square Park, around Broadway and Fifth Avenue in the upper 20s, known for boutique hotels and restaurants in restored Beaux-Arts… |
| NYC | New York City | Largest US city, with about 8.8 million people in the 2020 census across five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. |
| OKC | Oklahoma City | Capital and largest city of Oklahoma, settled almost overnight during the Land Run of April 22, 1889. |
| PDX | Portland, Oregon | Nickname for Portland, Oregon, taken from the airport code of Portland International. |
| PGH | Pittsburgh | Common abbreviation for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the steel city at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which form the Ohio. |
| Phila. | Philadelphia | Traditional abbreviation of Philadelphia, used in older documents, legal citations and newspaper datelines and still seen in business names. |
| PJ | Petaling Jaya | Satellite city of Kuala Lumpur in Selangor, Malaysia, developed from the 1950s as one of the country's first planned towns. |
| RVA | Richmond, Virginia | Popular nickname for Richmond, Virginia, the state capital, used by the city's tourism board, businesses and residents. |
| SA | San Antonio | Seventh-largest US city, home to the Alamo and the River Walk, frequently shortened to SA or Satx by locals and in local media. |
| SD | San Diego | California's second-largest city, near the Mexican border, with a major US Navy presence and the annual Comic-Con convention. |
| SF | San Francisco | Cultural and financial center of Northern California and the Bay Area, with about 800,000 residents on a 7-by-7-mile peninsula. |
| SI | Staten Island | Least populous of New York City's five boroughs, connected to Manhattan by the free Staten Island Ferry and to Brooklyn by the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. |
| SLC | Salt Lake City | Capital of Utah and headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, founded by Mormon pioneers in 1847. |
| SLO | San Luis Obispo | Central Coast California city and county, home to Cal Poly, widely abbreviated SLO, which locals turn into the pun SLO Town and SLO Life. |
| SoBe | South Beach | Southern part of Miami Beach, famous for its Art Deco Historic District, Ocean Drive, nightlife and beaches. |
| SoDo | South of Downtown | Industrial and stadium district of Seattle, home to Lumen Field, T-Mobile Park and the Starbucks headquarters. |
| SoHo | South of Houston Street | Manhattan neighborhood south of Houston Street, famous for 19th-century cast-iron buildings, art galleries that arrived in the 1960s and 1970s, and now luxury shopping. |
| SoMa | South of Market | San Francisco district south of Market Street, a former industrial and warehouse area that became the center of the city's startup and tech industry. |
| STL | St. Louis | Major city on the Mississippi River in Missouri, known for the 630-foot Gateway Arch, completed in 1965. |
| T.O. | Toronto | Informal abbreviation for Toronto, Canada's largest city, with about 2.8 million residents and more than 6 million in the census metropolitan area. |
| Tribeca | Triangle Below Canal Street | Lower Manhattan neighborhood south of Canal Street, once a warehouse district and now one of New York's most expensive residential areas. |
| UES | Upper East Side | Affluent Manhattan neighborhood between Central Park and the East River from about 59th to 96th streets, home to Museum Mile and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. |
| UWS | Upper West Side | Manhattan neighborhood between Central Park and the Hudson River, home to Lincoln Center, the American Museum of Natural History and Riverside Park. |
| WeHo | West Hollywood | Small independent city within Los Angeles County, incorporated in 1984, known for the Sunset Strip and as a center of LGBTQ life. |
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