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ZIP Codes 101
The "ZIP" in ZIP Code stands for "Zone Improvement Plan". A ZIP Code indicates the destination post office or delivery area to which a letter will be sent for final sorting for delivery.
ZIP Codes designate delivery routes used by mail carriers and areas serviced by the USPS. For further information on how they work and how to read them, keep reading.
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US ZIP Codes List
Every month, the United States Postal Service updates their ZIP Codes list. These changes amount to about 5,000 changes annually. ZIP Code changes happen due to post office openings and closures
If you need an updated list of the 41,000+ ZIP Codes you can’t rely on a stale website that hasn’t been updated in months or years. SmartyStreets provides a list of every ZIP Code in the United States. We also update our ZIP Code list every month
Here is how to download a full list of all the Zip Codes in the United States for free right now
- Create free account with SmartyStreets
- Go to the dashboard
- Click “Tools” in the top navigation bar
- Scroll down to the “Downloads” section
- Click the “ZIP Code Listings” link and download the ZIP file.
- Once the file has downloaded, unzip or extract the file.
- You will see 3 files, the one called zipcodes.txt is the full list of all the ZIP Codes in the US.
You will then be able to open it as a text file or with your favorite spreadsheet program. Importantly, some ZIP Codes start with a “00” or a “0” which many spreadsheet programs will automatically eliminate. If a ZIP Code shows up in the list as a 3-digit number you will need to add two zeros to the beginning. If it shows up as 4-digits, you will need to add one zero
Need a fresh list in the future? You can return to your account anytime to download the most recent USA ZIP Codes list from the same spot free of charge
What is a ZIP Code and how do they work?
ZIP Codes are 5-digit numbers developed by the United States Postal Service to represent individual post offices across the United States. A ZIP Code is just the name of the postal code system for the United States. Like the US, most countries have their own postal code system names. For example, India calls their system ‘Postal Index Numbers’. The Czech Republic calls their system ‘Postal Routing Numbers’. So, when you hear ‘ZIP Code’ think ‘United States’
There are three main parts of the 5-digit ZIP Code—the national area, the region or city, and the delivery area. The United States Postal Service (USPS) has segmented the country into 10 ZIP Code areas. Starting in the northeast, they are numbered 0-9. The map below shows each ZIP Code's region:
The first digit of the ZIP Code is allocated as follows:
| ZIP Codes Beginning With | States |
|---|---|
| 0 | Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Army Post Office Europe, Fleet Post Office Europe |
| 1 | Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania |
| 2 | District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia |
| 3 | Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Army Post Office Americas, Fleet Post Office Americas |
| 4 | Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio |
| 5 | Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin |
| 6 | Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska |
| 7 | Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas |
| 8 | Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming |
| 9 | Alaska, American Samoa, California, Guam, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Palau, Washington, Army Post Office Pacific, Fleet Post Office Pacific |
How to Read a ZIP Code
After the first number in a ZIP Code is assigned, the USPS assigns the next two numbers according to a city. If a region has a main town or city, the USPS will often assign it the first ZIP Codes. After that, the ZIP Codes will proceed alphabetically
The first three digits of a ZIP Code together usually indicate the sectional center facility to which that ZIP Code belongs. This facility is the mail sorting and distribution center for a zone or area. Some sectional center facilities have multiple three-digit codes assigned to them. For example, the Northern Virginia sectional center facility in Merrifield is assigned ZIP Codes beginning in 220, 221, 222, and 223
The fourth and fifth digits of the ZIP Code represent the area of the city or town. For example, if a letter is received with a ZIP Code of 47722, the USPS can know that it's in Indiana (4), it's in Vanderburgh county (77), and it's in the area of the University of Evansville (22)
ZIP Codes are Lines, Not Shapes
ZIP Codes are not drawn according to state boundaries. In fact, since they are designed only to increase mailing efficiency, ZIP Codes can and do cross county and state boundaries. For example:
- 42223 spans Christian County, Kentucky, and Montgomery County, Tennessee
- 97635 includes portions of Lake County, Oregon, and Modoc County, California
- 51023 and 51001 are in both Iowa and Nebraska
Although most ZIP Codes can be roughly assigned to a geographic area, ZIP Codes do not represent geographic regions; ZIP Codes denote address groups or delivery routes. Because of this, ZIP Code "areas" can overlap, be contained within another ZIP Code, or have no geographic area. For example ZIP Codes that start with 095 are assigned to the Navy, and therefore have no geographic location. Similarly, areas without regular postal routes (rural route areas) or areas with no mail delivery (undeveloped areas), are not assigned ZIP Codes. They are based on sparse delivery routes, so the boundary between ZIP Code areas there is indefinite.
You can see our instructions on how to find a county by ZIP Code. In cases where ZIP Codes cross county lines, SmartyStreets displays the default county in the line labeled ‘County Name’ and include an additional line labeled as ‘Alternate Counties’
ZIP+4 Codes
In 1983, the USPS changed its ZIP Code system to include the new ZIP+4. A ZIP+4 Code uses the basic five-digit code plus four additional digits for a full 9-digit ZIP Code. The full ZIP Code identifies a small delivery segment such as a street, a city block, a group of apartments, or even an individual address that receives a high volume of mail. The ZIP+4 Code is not required and is usually calculated automatically when the mail is sorted and processed. ZIP+4 Codes look like this:
As a rule, each Post Office Box has its own ZIP+4 Code. The +4 on the ZIP Code is often the last four digits of the box number, zero plus the last three digits of the box number, or, if the box number is less than 4 digits, zeros followed by the box number. Since there is this variance, the ZIP+4 Code must be looked up individually for each Post Office Box
Not all USPS deliverable addresses have a ZIP+4 Code assigned to them. For those addresses, geocoding lookups or address validation that require a ZIP+4 may not succeed. Even though the USPS might not provide accurate geocodes for those addresses, SmartyStreets can still provide roof-top level geocodes for most addresses in the US
You can explore more options by testing the SmartyStreets US ZIP Code API or by reading our ZIP Code API documentation
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