Data for ZIP codes
Data for ZIP codes
ZIP code data are difficult to use because ZIP code definitions change
frequently, and because they correspond to street addresses, not to geographic
areas. For example, the two sides of a street frequently belong to different
census tracts, but to the same zip code. The ZIP codes defined in 1990 STF3B
are not the same as those in TIGER files. A ZIP code expert at the Census
Bureau is Jonathan Sperling (jsperlin@info.census.gov).
ZIP Code Lookup
Current ZIP and ZIP+4 definitions, US Postal Service
National Address and ZIP+4 browser, Semaphore Corporation
Lists of ZIP codes
County parts of 5-digit ZIP codes (1990 Census)
ZIP code - place equivalence file (680 KB)
MABLE/GEOCORR
Master Area Block Level Equivalency (MABLE)
geographic correspondence engine
(CIESIN and University of Missouri)
ZIP code / Census Block equivalency
1991 ZIP/block equivalence file
Latitude and Longitude of ZIP codes
U.S. Gazetteer Place and Zipcode Files
(from Landview II, by chris.stuber@census.gov)
geographic area centroid of a single ZIP code
(from US Gazetteer)
a method of calculating population-weighted centroids
(from 1991 ZIP/block equivalence file)
Census data for ZIP codes
1990 Census data (for ZIP codes defined in 1990) are on CD-ROM in
Summary Tape File 3B (STF3B).
These are available via
anonymous FTP
from the University of California CD-ROM Information System.
1980 Census data (for ZIP codes defined in 1980) are in
LBL SEEDIS,
at geographic levels STZIP and CYZIP80, in 1980 Summary Tape File 3
(SEEDIS file CF.)
Coordinates of ZIP code boundaries
Geographic information about 1990 ZIP code areas are not in 1990 STF3B.
The fields defined for geographic centroids are empty.
Geographic information about 1980 ZIP code areas are not in SEEDIS.
High quality ZIP code boundary files can be purchased from
Geographic Data Technology, Inc.
ZIP code information for 345 core metropolitan areas are available in
1992 TIGER/LINE files,
available via
anonymous FTP
from the University of California CD-ROM Information System.
Some ZIP+4 information is available in the
1994 TIGER/LINE files,
available via
anonymous FTP,
from the University of California CD-ROM Information System.
ZIP code files in commercial GIS products
from Mary Tsui (mtsui@montereybay.com)
miscellaneous ZIP code resources
from Anurag Mehta (mehtaag@ucunix.san.uc.EDU)
Congressional Districts of ZIP codes
Juan Cabanela's
Contacting the Congress
the Zipper
by Stardot Consulting, Ltd.
back to
Small-Area Census Data
zipcode.html 8/16/96
dwmerrill@lbl.gov
http://merrill.wwh.net/dwmerrill.html