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Zip codes are always 5 characters, hence you would need a CHAR datatype, rather than VARCHAR. The first takes 5 bytes per zip code. The second takes only 3 bytes per zip code. The ZEROFILL option is necessary for zip codes with leading zeros.

When it comes to USA zip codes, they are always 5 digits long. However, sometimes these codes may also include leading zeros. If you store these zip codes as integers, any leading zeros would be stripped, resulting in missing data. As such, it's usually better to store zip codes as 5 character strings.

A United States postal code, for example, might be either five digits or five digits followed a hyphen (dash) and another four digits (12345-1234). If you are validating US postal codes, allow for both conditions. The following rule validates a field that can be five digits, five digits + dash + 4 digits, or blank.

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.

1 Expert Answer Always make your zip codes text. Zip codes on the east coast often start with a leading zero, and is a user types a leading zero into a number field, the leading zero(es) will get dropped!

Apply a predefined postal code format to numbers Select the cell or range of cells that you want to format. On the Home tab, under Number, on the Number Format pop-up menu. , click Custom. In the Format Cells dialog box, under Category, click Special. In the Type list, click Zip Code or Zip Code + 4.

A valid postal code depends on where you live. The specific order of the numbers of a ZIP code are important and can be used to help identify what state an individual lives in and where their mail is sorted. The first three digits of a ZIP code correspond to the central mail processing facility used to sort the mail.

CHAR data types are best used for storing data that is of a consistent length. For example, two-character State codes in the United States, single-character sex codes, phone numbers, postal codes, etc.