Introduced | February 15, 1985 |
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TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
Status | Active |
Registry | Registry Services, LLC (owned by GoDaddy) |
Sponsor | National Telecommunications and Information Administration |
Intended use | Entities connected with the United States |
Actual use | Used in the United States but not as widely as gTLDs
|
Registered domains | 2,053,374 (December 2023)[1] |
Registration restrictions | Connection with the U.S. requirement can be enforced by challenge but rarely is |
Structure | 2nd-level registrations allowed; originally only 3rd- or 4th-level registrations in a complex hierarchy |
Documents | RFC 1480; USDoC agreements with Neustar; Other policies |
Dispute policies | usTLD Dispute Resolution Policy (usDRP) |
DNSSEC | Yes |
Registry website | about.us |
.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 any territory of the United States.[2] 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.[3] The domain is managed by Registry Services, LLC, a domain name registry, on behalf of the United States Department of Commerce.[4]
The .us domain is less commonly used by American businesses and enterprises than the more international .com.[5]