what to know
- Postal Code: Use the USPS Postal Code Lookup Tool, or search Google or Bing.
- Find the area code: Enter the city and state name and area code into Google, Bing, Yahoo, or Wolfram Alpha.
- Alternatively, use specialized websites such as Area Codes, Country Codes, LincMad or AllAreaCodes.com.
This article explains how to find and verify postal and area codes online. Postal and postal codes are numeric codes used to facilitate the delivery of mail, and area codes are used to designate a geographic area when dialing a telephone number.
There are several websites and search engines you can use to find a zip code.
If you have an address or part of an address, you can look up the zip code through USPS Zip Code Lookup, a tool on the U.S. Postal Service website. You can also search by city or state, or find all cities that belong to a specific zip code.
You can also use various search engines to find zip codes. For example, using Google, to search by address by zip code, enter the address information you know and you'll see a map of the location that includes the zip code.
You can even enter something like a South Laurel MD zip code to see all the zip codes in the area (and find a link that shows the full list of zip codes in the area). You can also enter a zip code to see the location it belongs to along with maps and other related web results, such as cities with that zip code.
If you don't append your zip code to the end of your search, Google may show irrelevant information. For example, searching for 90210 will show information about TV series, while searching for 90210 zip code will show information about zip codes.
Looking up a zip code on Bing returns the city, map, and local attractions like grocery stores, hotels, and movie theaters. If you enter part of your address, Bing will complete it and display the zip code for you.
Much like a zip code, you can use a search engine to find an area code by searching for a city. To do the opposite and find out which part of the country the area code relates to, just enter the area code.
To find an area code on Google, enter the name of the city and state you're looking for, followed by "area code." You'll usually find what you need.
For international listings, search for a phrase such as Kenya phone code and you will receive informative answers with the numbers you need to call that country.
Enter a city and state into a new Bing search, and you'll likely see results similar to Google's, which show the area code at the top of the results. The same goes for international calling codes.
Another way to find your area code online is to use Wolfram Alpha, which bills itself as "computational intelligence."
This data-based search engine won't show results like the other search engines mentioned on this page, but with a little digging you can find some unique information about cities and states that might be available on other search engines Not found.
Finding an area code using Yahoo is very similar to using Google; enter the city and state name, then the area code, and you'll get results instantly.
Finding international codes using Yahoo isn't as easy as using Google, but you can of course still use Yahoo to find other websites that can provide you with that information.
There are quite a few websites dedicated to finding area codes that a simple search engine query may not show up. You can use these free resources to find almost any area code and/or country phone code in the world:
- Area Code: Mainly contains area codes from the United States, but also scattered with area codes from other countries/regions.
- BT Phonebook: Use this website to look up UK area codes
- Country code: This site will ask you which country you are calling from so you can specify the correct country code, area code, or both.
- LincMad: Postal code map providing a visual representation of U.S. and Canadian area codes.
- AllAreaCodes.com: Similar to LincMad, you can get a complete area code map of the United States and Canada, but also links to a list of area codes for a specific region, details about the area code (e.g., wireless or landline, carrier, date of introduction), Search tool and printable area code list.
