.state
Is .state a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody has applied for .state in its own right, as of 8 October 2026. Identity Digital named .state as a backup string for four of its applications: .gear, .lan, .kit and .grow. ICANN deactivated those backups, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .state as a backup string for its .token application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
Nobody has applied for .state in its own right.
Will names sell?
A clever word for dev tools and civic experiments, but too ambiguous to be anyone's default; expect modest use that needs explaining.
Last round the AI scored the 2012 strings blind to their fate. Strings it scored 60 or more hold a median 27,168 names today; those under 30, a median of 30. .state’s closest 2012 strings hold .city 34K, .town 19K and .country 3K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .city, held 34,258 names, June 2026. .town held 18,596; .country held 2,730. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a generic jurisdiction-tier noun where the registry hopes the actual governments at that tier put their primary identity on it while everyone else uses the word metaphorically, raising the same reserved-names/governance problem.
Identical class of bet — a unit-of-government word sold as an open category string, whose value hinges on whether the real civic bodies it names adopt it rather than treating it as decorative.
Also a geopolitical-tier generic noun rather than a topic or a brand, but the tier it names already has entrenched ccTLD identity, so the bet leans further toward metaphorical registrants than the target's does.
developer-tool and infrastructure teams branding around application state (state machines, stateful services), plus civic-tech projects and self-styled network-state or community-governance experiments
What a .state domain is
.state is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Infrastructure category. Nobody has applied for .state in its own right. It is named on ICANN’s list as part of an application for another string.
Is the .state domain extension real yet?
.state is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. Nobody has applied for it on the public record; the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round is the process that would decide whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .state domain?
You can’t yet. A .state name can only be registered once the string is delegated (added to the DNS root) and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .state was .city, delegated on 10 July 2014.
Is .state a real TLD?
Not yet. .state is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because ICANN’s list names .state as part of an application for another string. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Identity Digital · fact correctedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 5 linesHide the lines
CD2694T-T10513 · Coffee Danger, LLC · replacement string of .grow · Deactivated CD2694T-T18432 · Coffee Danger, LLC · replacement string of .kit · Deactivated CD2694T-T26351 · Coffee Danger, LLC · replacement string of .lan · Deactivated CD2694T-T92594 · Coffee Danger, LLC · replacement string of .gear · Deactivated LFGL2683T-T21444 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .token · Deactivated
“.state · Infra · “Draw your own borders.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49, usable but limited. The string is a common English word with two competing reads: the computing sense (application state, state machines, stateful infrastructure), which fits the applicant's stated Infra framing and the tagline 'Draw your own borders.', and the governmental sense, where the best-fit buyers (public agencies, US states) are locked into .gov and ccTLD conventions and are unlikely to adopt a commercial gTLD as primary identity within 5 years. That split keeps it out of the 50-69 band: there is plausible demand from dev-tool brands and network-state-flavored community projects, but no single cohort for whom .state is the expected address, so nearly every serious use requires explanation. It sits above the 10-29 band because the word carries genuine semantic utility, supports memorable phrase-style names (solid.state, deep.state style constructions), and could host real primary identities for infrastructure and state-management products rather than only vanity registrations. By analogy (flagged as analogy) with descriptive tech-suffix TLDs like .systems, .network, and .codes, the likely 5-year pattern is steady low-volume registrations, occasional genuine product identities, weak brand signal to non-technical audiences, and a thin aftermarket concentrated in a handful of dictionary-word and pun SLDs. The applicant, Link Freedom Group, filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and categorizes this one as Infra with the tagline 'Draw your own borders.'; a portfolio applicant of that breadth suggests standard registrar-channel distribution rather than a bespoke community push, which caps expected adoption energy. Main market uncertainty: which reading dominates in practice — if the computing-'state' read wins among developer brands the TLD earns durable niche identity use, but if the governmental read dominates public perception, registrations skew toward novelty and parked puns.