Zip code in the usa

When this happens, the Census Bureau will assign the entire block to a single ZCTA in this case, because the census block is the area that is precisely measured. If you are getting very precise usually a matter of meters, not miles , census block boundaries near the edge of a ZIP code almost always split ZIP codes.

The statistics provided by the Census Bureau can give insight into the demographics within the ZIP code.

For instance, see our ZIP code rankings. Remember that ZIP codes were made to make mail delivery easier. They weren't made to correspond to existing boundaries such as cities, counties, or even states. If it is more efficient for a mail carrier to drive across a state line to deliver mail, the ZIP code "boundary" will cross the state lines.

ZIP codes don't usually cross state lines, but some do , , and are good examples. The edges of the boundaries commonly overlap. For the purposes of our free zip code database by county downloads, we will commonly list either the most common region for the ZIP code or list multiple regions if several exist in the ZIP code. For cities, the assignment is somewhat more complicated. The assignment of cities to ZIP codes is more general.

The city is usually the name of the main post office. For instance, almost all ZIP codes in St. Louis County in Missouri have a city of Saint Louis when they may be more accurately described as the name of a smaller city where they are located. Click here to learn more about matching ZIPs to cities and counties.

Toggle navigation. Search by ZIP, address, city, or county:. In , the USPS added a four-digit addendum that further drilled down mail locations to specific apartment buildings or streets. Sometimes, a location may be deemed important or singular enough to deserve its own ZIP designation. So do some major universities.

Have you got a Big Question you'd like us to answer? If so, let us know by emailing us at bigquestions mentalfloss. BY Jake Rossen. While unbiased, this research does take into account factors that almost all Americans would agree are desirable. Turns out downtown NYC has the best zip code in the country. The worst? You might not be too surprised that a zip code in the middle of a Native American Reservation in Arizona takes the cake.

After analyzing more than 22, zip codes in America, we came up with this list as the 10 best zip codes in our nation:. While that might be a surprise and a real downer from the perspective of small town America , you can read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your zip code ranked or check out the worst zip codes in America.

In order to rank the best zip codes in the United States, we had to determine what criteria people like about a place. So we scraped the internet for those criteria, and it spit out the answer. Like magic. We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the U. Census Data and Bureau of Labor Statistics, this is the criteria we used:.