Addresses: Addresses on envelopes and parcels

On this page

• Recommended format for addresses on envelopes and parcels
• Contexts in which these guidelines apply
• Order of elements in an address
• Guidelines for formatting an address
  • Name of receiver
  • Job title and organization name
  • Building name
  • Street address
  • Compass point
  • Floor or unit number
  • Post office box and station
  • Municipality and province
  • Postal code
  • Country name
• Additional information

Recommended format for addresses on envelopes and parcels

To standardize usage within the federal public service, in the case of addresses being used for mail delivery, the Translation Bureau recommends following the format prescribed in Canada Post’s addressing guidelines (opens in new tab).

The Canada Post guidelines explain the address format that you should use on envelopes and parcels to facilitate automated mail sorting. These addressing guidelines allow mail to be handled and sorted more rapidly, thus reducing the carbon footprint of your delivery.

Contexts in which these guidelines apply

The guidelines below apply in the following contexts:

• the receiver’s address on an envelope or parcel or on a document mailed in a window envelope
• the sender’s address (return address) on an envelope or parcel
• any contact address provided in the body of a text for use on an envelope or parcel
• addresses in a data source used to generate form letters and envelopes or address labels for mass mailings

In all other cases (letters, resumés, etc.), the recommended format for addresses is the one described in the article Addresses: Addresses in letters or other documents.

For guidance on how to arrange the elements on an envelope, see the article Envelope: Arrangement of elements.

For information on the use of English and French in writing or translating addresses, see the article Addresses: Translating Canadian addresses.

Order of elements in an address

The elements that make up an address go from specific to general:

• the receiver’s first name (or initials) and last name
• the receiver’s job title
• the department or division (if applicable)
• the name of the organization (business, non-profit organization, government department, etc.)
• the building name (if applicable)
• the floor number (if applicable)
• the unit or apartment number, building number, street name and compass point (if applicable); or the post office box and station
• the municipality, followed by the province (or territory) and postal code

An address won’t necessarily include all of the above elements. It’s important to note than an address block must be no longer than six lines.

The examples below show how these elements are arranged.

Guidelines for formatting an address

Addresses used for mail delivery are ordinarily written entirely in capitals (although lower case is also accepted). The address should contain no punctuation (except in the case of a proper name, such as ST. JOHN’S). In addition, no line should be longer than 40 characters.

The lines of an address are blocked on the left (in other words, there’s no indentation at the beginning of each new line). The minimum number of lines in the receiver’s address is three; the maximum is six.

For details, see the page “Important information” in Canada Post’s addressing guidelines (opens in new tab).

Name of receiver

The name of the receiver, which may be preceded by the receiver’s preferred courtesy title (if you know it), appears on the first line of the address.

If you don’t have the name of a receiver, you can address the letter to a job title:

For details, see the articles Courtesy titles and Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms.

Job title and organization name

If the receiver is a person occupying a position within an organization, provide the receiver’s job title on the line below the name:

The organization name goes on the line below the job title:

If you include a department, you can put the receiver’s business title and department together on the line below the name, with no punctuation between them:

Building name

Certain buildings (for example, office or apartment buildings) may have names. If you include a building name, put it on a line by itself, below the organization name and above the street address:

Street address

The street address consists of the building number and the street name. Don’t put the number sign (#) or the abbreviation No. in front of the building number, and don’t put a comma between the building number and the street name.

The words for certain street types (street, avenue, road, etc.) may be abbreviated; others must be written in full.

For details, see the section “Street types” in Canada Post’s addressing guidelines (opens in new tab) (on the “Symbols and abbreviations” page).

Compass point

In addresses on envelopes and parcels, abbreviate all compass points.

For more information, see the section “Street directions” in Canada Post’s addressing guidelines (opens in new tab) and the article Compass points.

Floor or unit number

An address for a public- or private-sector organization may include a suite or floor number, while the address for a private individual may include an apartment number.

If the address contains a floor number, put it on the line immediately above the street address:

You can indicate the number of a unit, apartment or suite in any of the following ways.

Method 1: You can put the unit, apartment or suite number before the building number, with a hyphen between:

Method 2: You can put the apartment, unit or suite number after the street name instead, using the abbreviation APT or the word UNIT or SUITE (or another appropriate term) before the number:

Method 3: If the street address is long, the number of the unit, apartment or suite can go on the line above:

Note: Don’t use the number sign (#) or the abbreviation No. before the number of the floor, suite, apartment, etc.

Post office box and station

If the receiver’s address includes a post office box number, use it in place of the street address, on the line above the municipality and province.

On an envelope or parcel, use the abbreviated form PO BOX. Don’t use the number symbol (#) or the abbreviation No. before the number.

If there’s a station name, put it after the post office box number on the same line, using the abbreviation STN:

If, for some reason, you need to include the street address in addition to the post office box, put the street address on the line above the post office box:

Municipality and province

On the line below the street address or post office box number, put the name of the municipality, followed by the postal abbreviation for the province (or territory), with a space between them:

If in doubt, you can find the official name of the municipality in Natural Resources Canada’s Canadian Geographical Names Database (opens in new tab).

For municipalities with a name longer than 13 characters, you may use the official abbreviation indicated on the Canada Post web page showing municipality abbreviations for the different provinces and territories:

For the province or territory, use the two-letter Canada Post abbreviation, which contains no periods:

Note: Canada Post’s two-letter postal abbreviations for provincial and territorial names are different from the traditional abbreviations for these names. For a list of the Canada Post abbreviations, see the article Abbreviations: Canadian provinces and territories (opens in new tab).

Postal code

Use capital letters in the postal code. Put a space (not a hyphen) between the two sets of characters:

Place the postal code on the same line as the province or territory, with two spaces between the province or territory and the postal code:

If the name of the municipality is long, you can put the postal code on the line below:

For more information, see the page “Civic address” in Canada Post’s addressing guidelines (opens in new tab).

Country name

When sending mail within Canada, don’t include the name CANADA at the end of the address.

However, you must include a country name on mail being sent to another country. For information on how to format an address on international mail, see the article Addresses: International addresses.

Additional information

• Correspondence and addresses – Guidelines and resources
• Envelope: Model showing recommended format
• Addresses: Addresses in letters or other documents
• Envelope: Arrangement of elements
• Addresses: Translating Canadian addresses
• Courtesy titles
• Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms.
• Compass points
• Abbreviations: Canadian provinces and territories
• Addresses: International addresses
• Commas in geographical names and addresses
• Streets and buildings: Abbreviations and numbers

Terminology records

• TERMIUM Plus^® record “return address” (opens in new tab)

Other resources

• Addressing guidelines (opens in new tab) (Canada Post)
• Municipality abbreviations (opens in new tab) (Canada Post)
• Canadian Geographical Names Database (opens in new tab) (Natural Resources Canada)