In 2017, Service Objects provided access to a free downloadable dataset of all US ZIP Codes and Canadian Postal Codes. The dataset is continually maintained and has been extremely popular since we made it available. Today, we are pleased to announce an expanded version of this dataset that now includes geocoordinates for each postal code in the US and Canada.
This data, provided as a public service, contains each of the unique ZIP Codes and Postal Codes in the US and Canada, together with geocodes and useful associated data for nearly one million unique postal codes. Let’s explore what this new release contains, and how you can put it to work.
What’s inside
These files contain the following data:
US ZIP Codes: (USZIPCodesYYYYMM.csv)
- City and county
- County and state FIPS identifiers.
- Short for the Federal Information Processing Standard, these numeric codes can be used to uniquely identify geographic areas.
- Time zone
- Daylight Saving Time status (yes or no)
- Geocodes: Latitude and longitude in decimal degrees
Canadian Postal Codes: (CanadianPostalCodesYYYYMM.csv)
- City and province
- Time zone
- Latitude and longitude in decimal degrees
Ways to use ZIP and Postal code data
Potential applications of these databases include:
- Pre-populating lists of postal codes to help ensure accurate data entry on address forms
- Identifying states and counties from postal code data on incoming addresses
- Checking time zones to ensure marketing or customer contact efforts take place at appropriate times
- Business analysis of data based on postal codes or FIPS identifiers
With the addition of latitude and longitude geocoding data for these postal codes, these databases now have added utility for applications where Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and other location intelligence is needed.
GIS can add an important visual dimension to data compiled by address: for example, you can create a visual layout of specific postal codes for targeted marketing purposes, analyze sales or marketing trends by geographic area based on postal codes, or create other types of location-based data visualizations using your address data for business planning purposes.
Where can I find the postal code data?
For questions on accessing or using this data, or further information on Service Objects’ extensive contact validation and data quality products, please contact us. These products can be used standalone or integrated via API interfaces into most major business automation platforms.
Our leadership position in contact data quality, with over 4 billion transactions processed to date, allows us to maintain this accurate and up-to-date list of current postal codes. By making this resource freely accessible to all, our goal is to help both our own users and the general public leverage postal and geographic data to improve their business processes. Resources like this are an important part of our service mission, and just one more way that we can help benefit your own business efforts.
