Order by where condition
you can use ORDER BY FIELD
SELECT `state`FROM `table1`WHERE `state` IN ('NC','North Carolina','TN','Tennessee','CO','Colorado','NM','New Mexico','UT','Utah')ORDER BY FIELD(`state`, 'NC','North Carolina','TN','Tennessee','CO','Colorado','NM','New Mexico','UT','Utah');
SELECT col_nameFROM table_naneWHERE col_nane IN ('NC','North Carolina','TN','Tennessee','CO','Colorado','NM','New Mexico','UT','Utah')ORDER BY FIELD(`state`, 'NC',.....);and so on....
try this:
order by case when `state`='NC' or `state`='North Carolina' then 1 when `state`='TN' or `state`='Tennessee' then 2 when `state`='CO' or `state`='Colorado' then 3 end