How Do You Abbreviate Quebec? QC Is the Standard

The abbreviation for Quebec is QC in Canadian postal addressing. PQ is obsolete, while YQB refers to Quebec City’s airport rather than the province.

QC is the official postal abbreviation

Canada Post lists QC as the two-letter abbreviation for Quebec in both English and French addressing guidelines.

You may encounter longer editorial abbreviations in prose, depending on the publication’s style guide, but they are not the standard Canada Post province code used in addresses.

Is PQ correct?

PQ was historically used for “Province of Quebec,” but it is obsolete for modern Canadian postal addressing. It can also cause confusion because PQ is commonly associated with the Parti Québécois.

YQB is the IATA airport code for Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport. It is not an abbreviation for the province or the city in ordinary writing. Use YQB only when the airport code is the information a traveler needs.

Quebec province versus Quebec City

The word Quebec can mean the province or the city, so context matters. In a postal address, QC identifies the province. In ordinary prose, write “Quebec City” when you mean the municipality and the distinction would otherwise be unclear.

The postal symbol QC is the same in English and French. Editorial abbreviations can differ: Statistics Canada lists forms such as “Que.” in English and “Qc” in French for general text. Follow the style guide for the document you are writing rather than mixing postal and editorial systems.

Should QC include periods?

No. The Canada Post province symbol is written as two capital letters without periods. Traditional prose abbreviations may include punctuation, but they are a different convention.

Canada Post’s model places the municipality, province symbol and postal code on the same line. The city name may itself be Québec, followed by the province symbol QC. That can look repetitive, but each element has a different job.

Is “Quebec, Canada” enough?

It may be understandable in casual writing, but it is not a complete mailing address. For travel articles or event listings, specify “Quebec City, Quebec” when international readers might confuse the city with the province.

A mailing address would normally end with a format such as Québec QC followed by the postal code.

If you are planning a visit, our guide to using French in Quebec City explains what travelers can expect.

See Canada Post’s official addressing abbreviations.

Using QC correctly in real life

On a Canadian mailing address, QC follows the municipality and comes before the postal code. Write the city name clearly, then QC, then the six-character postal code with the usual space in the middle. Do not substitute YQB unless you are specifically discussing the airport.

In ordinary prose, spelling out Quebec is often clearer than using an abbreviation. QC is most useful in addresses, compact tables and forms that expect a province code. If a form offers a dropdown, choose Quebec rather than typing an older abbreviation from memory. Small distinctions like this prevent mail and travel information from pointing to the wrong thing.

Which Quebec abbreviation should you use?

Use QC for a Canadian postal address or a form that asks for the province code. Use YQB only when you mean Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport. In normal sentences, spelling out Quebec or Quebec City is usually clearer than abbreviating it.

That distinction also prevents a common travel-planning mistake: an airport code identifies an airport, not a province. Canada Post’s current addressing guide lists Quebec as QC, while the airport itself consistently identifies as YQB. They serve two completely different systems.

For the spoken form rather than the written abbreviation, see our guide to pronouncing Quebec.