About .us domains

About .us domains

.US is a country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) in the DNS root zone. It is designated for United States. The IANA root zone lists the registry manager as Registry Services, LLC. Registration policies (who may register, local presence, pricing) are set by the registry and its accredited registrars — not by IANA.

.us is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United States. It was established in February 1985. Registrants of us domains must be U.S. citizens, residents, or organizations – or foreign entities with a presence in the United States or a territory of the United States. Most registrants in the U.S. have registered for .com, .net, .org and other gTLDs, instead of us, which has primarily been used by state and local governments, even though private entities may also register us domains. The domain is managed by Registry Services, LLC, an acquired subsidiary domain name registry of GoDaddy, on behalf of the United States Department of Commerce.

Who can register .us domains?

Eligibility is defined by the registry operator and its registrars. Most gTLDs are open to anyone worldwide. Many ccTLDs are also open globally; some require local presence, citizenship, or trademark rights. Always confirm current policy with the registry or your registrar.

Registration restrictions

Character rules below follow common ICANN LDH conventions. Individual registries and registrars may impose extra eligibility, length, or residency rules.

Length

2 – 63 characters (label before .us)

Can use

Letters (a–z), numbers (0–9), and hyphens (not first/last or consecutive in restricted cases)

Cannot use

Special characters (e.g. & # @) in standard LDH labels

IDNs

Varies by registry — check IDN support with the registry or your registrar

Features

Operational features (privacy, parking, protection) are registrar-level, not defined by the IANA root zone record.

Registry information

Sponsor / manager

Registry Services, LLC

Registration services

http://www.nic.us

WHOIS server

whois.nic.us

Root zone registration

1985-02-15

Record last updated

2024-08-29