State highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) can refer to several different concepts:

1. In a country that is composed of states (e.g. Australia, India, Mexico, and the United States) or provinces (e.g. Canada and China), a "state route" usually refers to either a road numbered by the state or province, falling below numbered national highways in the hierarchy (route numbers are used to aid navigation, and may or may not indicate ownership or maintenance); or a road maintained by the state or province, including both nationally numbered highways and un-numbered state highways. Depending on the state, state highway may be used for one meaning and state road or state route for the other.
2. In some countries such as New Zealand, the word "state" is used in its sense of a nation. By this meaning a state highway is a road maintained and numbered by the national government rather than local authorities.