Second Street or 2nd Street? Spelled or digits, by state

Our counts from the Census Bureau's TIGER/Line Feature Names files: 8,261,451 streets in 3,231 counties.

Our take written by All Streets

In the files, 2nd appears on 26,046 streets and Second on 839, and 3rd on 25,489 and Third on 804.

The state table gives both counts for each state and DC. The base name decides the count, so Second St and 2nd St are separate names here.

Our reading of the counts on this page. It adds no facts of its own.

Our count of Census linear features (streets, as defined in the method note), nationwide.
Base name	Streets
1st	22,673
First	950
2nd	26,046
Second	839
3rd	25,489
Third	804
4th	23,273
Fourth	592
5th	20,908
Fifth	485

Our count of Census linear features (streets, as defined in the method note), by state: 2nd and 3rd against Second and Third.
State	Digits (2nd, 3rd)	Spelled (Second, Third)
Alabama	1,641	7
Alaska	168	68
Arizona	917	18
Arkansas	957	9
California	1,596	99
Colorado	912	28
Connecticut	88	11
Delaware	88	18
District of Columbia	52	0
Florida	4,089	46
Georgia	778	34
Hawaii	30	3
Idaho	689	10
Illinois	2,133	71
Indiana	1,151	32
Iowa	2,991	26
Kansas	1,654	32
Kentucky	462	26
Louisiana	626	37
Maine	81	11
Maryland	214	18
Massachusetts	224	13
Michigan	1,077	86
Minnesota	3,649	70
Mississippi	496	42
Missouri	1,490	48
Montana	1,044	20
Nebraska	1,204	18
Nevada	166	10
New Hampshire	68	15
New Jersey	728	40
New Mexico	348	3
New York	893	51
North Carolina	785	39
North Dakota	2,359	5
Ohio	1,184	28
Oklahoma	1,769	25
Oregon	1,082	25
Pennsylvania	2,114	152
Rhode Island	53	0
South Carolina	280	22
South Dakota	1,090	11
Tennessee	399	24
Texas	2,864	92
Utah	117	19
Vermont	31	1
Virginia	413	27
Washington	2,013	64
West Virginia	593	21
Wisconsin	1,336	40
Wyoming	333	22

Our count: the spelled forms are on more streets in 0 of the 50 states and DC.

Rows from the Census files

Verbatim field values from the county Feature Names files behind this page's counts. Each is one edge record; our count treats each LINEARID as one street.

File (county)	TLID	LINEARID	FULLNAME	NAME	PREDIRABRV	SUFTYPABRV	SUFDIRABRV	MTFCC	PAFLAG
tl_2025_06085_featnames.zip Santa Clara County, California	122897270	11010887059394	Second St	Second		St		S1400	P
tl_2025_30031_featnames.zip Gallatin County, Montana	163521157	11010888447326	E Second St	Second	E	St		S1400	P
tl_2025_26033_featnames.zip Chippewa County, Michigan	130548103	1101000368828	3rd Ave W	3rd		Ave	W	S1400	P

Our checker re-read these rows from census.gov on October 14.

How we counted

Method note Our count of Census linear features (streets, as defined in the method note): one street is one LINEARID that carries a primary name (PAFLAG P) on at least one edge classed S1200 or S1400, with a non-blank NAME, across 3,234 of the 3,235 county files; the file for St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands was answered by the Census server with a "Request Rejected" page and is left out. A name counts once per LINEARID, so a road the Census splits into several linear features counts more than once. Full method and definitions →

The MAF/TIGER System breaks/ends linear elemental features when the feature name changes. All spelling differences result in a new feature. Features will also break at county boundaries, changes in primary/alternate designation, MTFCC, and gaps in the geometry.

Census Bureau: TIGER/Line Shapefiles Technical Documentation (PDF) · our check found this text on October 14

Second Street or 2nd Street? Spelled or digits, by state

Our take written by All Streets

Rows from the Census files

How we counted

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