Establish Zip Code Bulletin For Free

Use all-caps for ZIP and always lowercase the word code. Use the uppercase abbreviated two-letter U.S. Post Office standard for states and territories. Don't put a comma between the state name and the ZIP code.

Since our caller works for the U.S. government, and ZIP codes are a government thing, I checked the US Printing Office style guide first. It recommends ?ZIP Code.? Associated Press style is similar: ?ZIP code??two words with ?ZIP? in all caps?but it uses a lowercase C, and I was surprised it would deviate.

This is because ZIP code boundaries are based on mail routes and delivery points rather than geographic factors. The U.S. Post Office Department, predecessor to USPS, developed a zoning address system in 1943 as a way to make sorting and delivery of mail easier.

Primary state prefixes. ZIP Codes are numbered with the first digit representing a certain group of U.S. states, the second and third digits together representing a region in that group (or perhaps a large city) and the fourth and fifth digits representing a group of delivery addresses within that region.

The 2020?2022 edition of the Associated Press Stylebook says to write ?all-caps ZIP for Zone Improvement Plan, but always lowercase the word code.? But don't despair. We are filing your question with the many other suggestions from our readers for future editions of CMOS.

?the five-digit ZIP number is a structured code in which the first digit identifies one of ten large areas of the Nation, and the second digit indicates a State, a geographic portion of a heavily populated State, or two or more less populated States.

The correct format for a numeric ZIP+4 code is five digits, a hyphen, and four digits. The first five digits represent the 5-digit ZIP Code; the sixth and seventh digits (the first two after the hyphen) identify an area known as a sector; the eighth and ninth digits identify a smaller area known as a segment.

The correct format for a numeric ZIP+4 code is five digits, a hyphen, and four digits. The first five digits represent the 5-digit ZIP Code; the sixth and seventh digits (the first two after the hyphen) identify an area known as a sector; the eighth and ninth digits identify a smaller area known as a segment.

You are right that the United States Postal Service writes ?ZIP Code? with a capital C?and ZIP in all caps. You're also right about us. Though CMOS doesn't specifically rule on how to capitalize the term, it has rendered it as ?zip code? (all lowercase) since it first appeared in the Manual in 1982 (in the 13th ed.).

ZIP Codes are numbered with the first digit representing a certain group of U.S. states, the second and third digits together representing a region in that group (or perhaps a large city) and the fourth and fifth digits representing a group of delivery addresses within that region.