Us zip code format: Address Verification APIs

Free USPS Address Verification & Address Validation Tools

Easy-to-use tool for single address verification & validation. Verify USPS, non-USPS & international addresses.

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The above Single Address Validation / Verification Tool combines several of Smarty’s cloud-based software tools into one.

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• US Street Address API
• International Street Address API
• US Autocomplete Pro API
• International Address Autocomplete API
• US Rooftop Geocoding

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• US Address Verification
• International Address Verification
• US Address Autocomplete
• International Address Autocomplete

HOW THE ADDRESS VERIFICATION TOOL WORKS

Use this free address verifier to cleanse, correct, standardize, validate, and verify addresses worldwide. To begin your address check or verification of an address, enter or paste your address in a single line or by components. Addresses entered in a single line will be parsed into address field components.

As you enter an address, valid, deliverable address predictions appear based on your location. Bad addresses are corrected if possible and standardized to the address format of the specified country. US addresses are verified against the USPS address database and Smarty’s (formerly SmartyStreets) proprietary dataset of 15+ million non-postal addresses.

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About Address Verification

Learn more about address verification below:

What Are Some Address Verification Uses?

Some of the more common use cases for address verification / validation include:

• Data blending for merging different databases
• Shipping package delivery
• Data governance
• Food delivery applications e.g. Uber Eats
• Risk profiling — insurance underwriting / banking
• Asset management

• 360-degree view of customer
• Targeted marketing
• Real estate and credit card fraud prevention
• Routing drivers such as service technicians and healthcare employees
• Coverage locators (especially for Telco)
• General data quality

Address Verification FAQs

How do I check if an address is correct?

Checking if an address is correct is also known as address verification or validation. To check address validity, simply enter it into Smarty’s free address checker (address verifier) at the top of this page.

How do you verify an address?

To verify or validate an address, you would simply compare it against an authoritative, trusted source, such as the USPS database. You can use Smarty’s free address verification tool at the top of this page to verify or validate any address against not only the entire USPS database (Smarty is USPS CASS certified) but also Smarty’s proprietary database of more than 15 million deliverable, non-postal addresses.

Is USPS address validation free?

Yes, the USPS postal address APIs are free to use. But beware of many limitations. See 25 reasons why Smarty’s address APIs are clearly a better choice than the USPS address validation tool. If you’re looking to validate a single address, just use the free address verifier tool above.

Does Smarty’s Single Address Verification Tool perform USPS Address Verification?

Yes, it does. Use Smarty’s Single Address Verification Tool at the top of the page to not only verify addresses in the USPS database but also 15 million additional non-USPS addresses that Smarty has found to be valid and deliverable.

How do I verify an address in the UK?

Simple. Use the free international address format generator above to check any international address. The above tool checks both residential and business addresses whether inside or outside the US.

How do I verify an incomplete USPS address?

To verify an incomplete USPS address, enter your information in Smarty’s USPS address checker at the top of the page. In many cases, the address standardization tool can validate an address after appending missing data such as city, or zip code, or street direction.

Why can’t USPS verify my address?

The various reasons why the USPS might fail to verify your address include:

• The address contains bad data
• The address is marked “vacant” by the USPS
• The address is too new to have been picked up by the USPS
• The address is unregistered
• The address is in a postal code primarily serviced by PO boxes

For additional information, see Why Won’t My Address Verify / Validate?

If the USPS won’t verify your address, try using the address validator tool above as it references not only the USPS database but also Smarty’s proprietary list of more than 15 million non-postal addresses that are verified as deliverable.

How do I check a residential address?

Simple. Use the free address checker tool above to check any residential address worldwide.

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Address Standardization & Standard Address Formats

Address Standardization(or address normalization) simply converts an address into the correct format of the national postal authority and is
the first step to verifying an address. The USPS is the authority that determines the format of addresses in the United States.

Smarty (formerly SmartyStreets) performs lightning-fast USPS address standardization and international address standardization. We can verify, validate, enrich, and standardize virtually any global address.

Skip the snoozefest lurking inside Publication 28, and every other national postal standards doc. Instead, start standardizing addresses to any country’s proper address structure by selecting an option:

Single Address – Standardize addresses one at a time.	Bulk Address – Standardize a list of addresses all at once.	Address APIs – Programmatically standardize addresses.
Start Standardizing	Start Standardizing	Start Standardizing

Table of Contents

• What is USPS address standardization?
• How do you standardize (or normalize) address records?
• What is CASS address standardization?
• What is my USPS standardized address?
• Standardization for project
  managers and database administrators
• Conclusion

What is USPS Address Standardization?

The USPS defines a standardized address as “one that is fully spelled out, abbreviated by using the
Postal Service standard address abbreviations. .. or as shown in the current Postal Service ZIP+4 suffix file.”
¹

The process of standardizing an address (whether with USPS or an international address), is most often performed
through an address normalization service using address validation software.

It’s important to note that address standardization does NOT guarantee address validity. Address
standardization simply converts an address into the correct format and is the first step in validating an address.

Once standardized, an address will be complete, including the addition of any missing city, state, or Postal Code
information. All the individual address components will be formatted with USPS-approved spelling and street
abbreviations in the approved USPS address format or the applicable international address format.

After an address is normalized, it can then be validated. To be validated, the standardized address is
compared against an authoritative address database of known addresses to see if it matches an address in that database. If a match is found, the address is determined to be “valid”. This process is known as address validation.

Examples of Address Standardization

Remember, we first normalize an address and then verify it. We’ve demonstrated this in the following table.

What about casing & capitalization?

We’re all used to seeing addresses like this:

772 W ROLLING RD

SPRINGFIELD PA 19054-1132

Uppercase text, however, isn’t a USPS address standardization requirement. ² The text simply needs to be clearly printed and meet USPS
OCR address standards. Addresses do not need to be all capitalized. So the uppercase lettering within an address format is equally
as valid as the following address format:

772 W Rolling Rd

Springfield PA 19054-1132

Smarty returns address results in Proper Case rather than UPPERCASE. If you prefer uppercase formatting,
you can transform text to ALL UPPERCASE using any spreadsheet program, database application, or programming
language.

How do you Standardize (or Normalize) Address Records?

Address standardization (or address normalization) is an easy process for most addresses. Address standardization and address normalization can be used synonymously.

Generally, there are two ways to approach address standardization. You can either use software, or you can
standardize addresses manually.

Option 1: Address Standardization Software

Whether you have to standardize one address or millions, using address normalization software will make your
job easier.

The software will automatically correct for malformed addresses. This process, done manually, could take you
several days to complete, depending on the volume of addresses you need standardized. Many address data
verification software tools are free to try. Take ours for a test drive
and see how address normalization works.

Option 2: Do it yourself (DIY)

Another option for standardizing addresses is to attempt to do it manually yourself. Here are the basic steps
required for the US mailing address format for the majority of US addresses. For the sake of maintaining your sanity and
ours; we won’t cover all the special cases that standardization software will handle automatically.

1. Get the address you want to standardize.
2. Fix any misspellings.

• Check the street name, city, and state. Verify that all address information is correct.

• There is only one correct version of each abbreviation according to the postal service. Check out this
  library to find the list of USPS-approved
  abbreviations along with their variants.

For example, if the pre-standardized address format looked like this:

210 jefferson center

Floor 2

Elmer, New Jersey, 08318

The word “Center”, is commonly abbreviated in the following ways, but which abbreviation is correct?

If you answered, “CTR,” then congratulations! You were correct on one of the hundreds of
abbreviation variants out there!

You can use the linked library to get your corrected USPS address abbreviations.

1. Correct casing and capitalization.

• Like we explained in the “What about casing & capitalization?” section, the United
  States Postal Service will accept either UPPERCASE format or Proper Case.

• The ZIP+4 code is optional. However, by including it, mail can arrive
  up to 2 days faster. ZIP+4 codes apply to only 10-20 homes or locations. Appending the ZIP+4 means the
  Post Office can more easily pinpoint where your mail needs to go. With 160 million delivery points in
  the US, there are between 8 million and 16 million ZIP+4 codes out there, and they can change up to once
  a month.

  Trying to figure out ZIP+4 for each address on your own can feel like trying to hit a moving target
  160 million times in a row, so you can leave it off if you like. A better option would be to use our
  ZIP+4 web tool to find yours in a few seconds. It will also do the standardizing and verifying of your
  address as a bonus.

• The address should now have the correct USPS address format. Doesn’t that feel good? It will look
  something like this:

210 Jefferson Rd Fl 2

Elmer NJ 08318-2680

What is CASS Address Standardization?

CASS Address standardization is the Coding Accuracy Support System.
Developed by the United States Postal Service, it’s a certification program for standardization and address
verification. A CASS-certified software will standardize your mailing lists, update outdated addresses, and will
verify that the addresses are complete and valid.

So, how does address standardization differ from CASS address standardization?

Address standardization is the process of formatting an address to conform to USPS guidelines.

CASS address standardization is a certification that a particular service has been certified by USPS that it can
standardize addresses according to USPS guidelines.

Smarty is a CASS-certified software provider, which is why we can standardize your addresses to the USPS
format for you. You can test it here.

What is my USPS Standardized Address?

I bet you just skipped down to this section. If so, I can’t blame you. It’s the most important question,
and I am glad you asked! Coincidentally enough, we actually have address standardization software you can use
to find your own USPS standardized address!

In the address standardization rules section of this article, we mentioned that standardization puts your
address in a standard form that is recognized by the United States Postal Service. What address standardization
doesn’t do is it doesn’t check to ensure that the address is actually valid. However, our software
both standardizes and validates addresses. Just give a quick clickity-click here, pop in your address, and you
will have your standardized and validated address in a few seconds.

Our software can standardize and validate addresses from multiple databases making many additional scrubbing
processes obsolete. Whether you’re standardizing for a SQL database or need a Python, Java SDK, or other API
solutions; we can help you.

Standardization for Project Managers and
Database Administrators

So, you’re a Project Manager or a Database Administrator (DBA) that works for Blue Widgets Incorporated. You
have been tasked with merging three databases of customer data. Each database originates from different sales
channels. You have a SQL database of customers for eBay, a CSV file for Amazon customer data, and a list of
customers’ corporate websites from a CRM.

Now, your company wants to send catalogs to its top 50,000 customers.

You could be facing a number of problems in trying to accomplish this. The first issue is that each of these
platforms holds address data in different formats. One of these might be a fully standardized address database that needs no additional effort, while
the others might need a lot of work. One might break address components down into 7 different fields, while the other databases
might put the full address into a single field. Another issue is that your customers might exist simultaneously
in more than one database because they have purchased from you on multiple platforms.

So, how can you ensure you aren’t sending multiple catalogs to a single address? What about wasting money
by sending mail to invalid addresses? You can eliminate this waste by doing some data cleansing (scrubbing) in
your databases. For mailing addresses, this consists of three steps.

1. Standardization – By parsing your different addresses and putting them in the one consistent format as
   defined by the USPS, you make sure each address is in the format with the correct syntax that will be most
   understandable for the next steps.
2. Validation – Address validation involves doing an address lookup for addresses in the USPS standardized address database. This
   database is updated monthly. This step ensures the address is actually a current, valid, mailable address.
3. De-duplication – Once the addresses are standardized and validated, it’s now easy to eliminate duplicates.
   Now, the address only appears in your merged, standardized address database one time. If you did de-duplication before
   standardizing and validating, many duplicate addresses would be missed.

You have completed the cleanse. Standardizing, validating, and removing duplicates are important steps in data
management hygiene.

If an address is worth keeping it will be standardized and validated. Integrating regular scrubbing into your
databases of addresses makes them reliable. With reliable addresses, you can better track the lifetime value of
your customers and more clearly see their purchase patterns. Not to mention the money you can save by reducing
postage on undeliverable mail now that you have reliable customer address records.

Conclusion

Using an address standardization service makes addresses as easy to understand as possible for the USPS, and computer databases.
It does this by putting all addresses in a simple standard format. Standardization factors in spelling, casing,
abbreviations, postal codes, and many more special cases. And, after finishing this article, you now have all
the address standardization tools you need to validate your addresses.

To easily standardize one address or many, try Smarty’s address validation service
for free. We’ve got a postal address validator. We also have a bulk address validator. Best of all, we’ve got a collection of validation APIs so that you can standardize addresses in your own
programs or forms.

What is an address?—Help | ArcGIS Desktop

• Address elements
• Address formats

An address is simply a method used to describe a location. For geocoding purposes, an address can be a street name, a place name, or a coded place. The address describes the location of the feature based on the features that exist in your GIS database. In most cases, this description is easy enough to understand. For example, if you need to locate the address “380 New York St., Redlands, CA, 92373” containing correct street data, it won’t take you long to find the exact location. First you can find the state of California and then the city of Redlands. You can also use the zip code map and identify the region with the corresponding zip code value. Then you determine the street, and finally find where and on which side of block 300 the address you are looking for is located.

Just as you first narrowed down your search to a specific region, found a specific feature, and determined the position of a point, the computer performs the same address locating processing when geocoding. nine0009

The figure below shows that when locating an address in the US, you typically find the state, then the city, and finally the specific street.

Address elements

Addresses have certain specific characteristics. An address contains certain address elements and can be represented in different formats. When geocoding is performed, the address format is processed, the elements of the address are identified, and compared with the elements stored in the address locator. nine0009

An address element is an individual component of an address, such as house number, street name, street type, and postal code. Address elements assist in finding features when performing geocoding by pinpointing the location of a feature by its address.

Address formats

Addresses are presented in a variety of formats. A typical US address in a database typically consists of the following elements: house number, direction prefix, street name prefix, street name; street type, direction suffix; and zonal information such as city, state, and zip code. nine0009

Addresses are presented in other formats in many regions. One example of alternative formats is the address format used in the Queens, New York metropolitan area. In the mid-1920s, the Queens Land Survey unified street names and introduced a hyphenated address style. The first number indicates the north or west cross street. The second number indicates exactly where the building is located. Typically, in Queens, avenues run east-west and streets run north-south. Queens also has a suburb that uses its own address system. This practice is used in many parts of the world. Although the address format used in Queens is non-standard, it nevertheless contains the elements necessary to locate a particular object. nine0009

Salt Lake City, Utah also uses an alternate address format. When the streets were originally laid out in Salt Lake City, the Latter-day Saint church was the center of the community. The roads were given a numerical name indicating how far each road was from the church, as well as a bearing value indicating the direction of the road from the church. The numeric prefix simply indicates the part of the road where the particular address is located. Although this address format differs from the general format, it contains the basic elements for locating an object. nine0009

Another example of the US address format can be found in the states of Illinois and Wisconsin. In these regions, the address format includes an address element such as the “grid zone”. A grid zone is simply a larger block or grid in which an address is located. The corresponding house numbers on the streets are assigned values ​​based on the location and the particular block of streets. The grid zone value helps to accurately associate a street number with a specific zone within a community.

International addresses can also be presented in a wide range of formats. For example, a standard Brazilian address contains most of the basic elements of an address. However, they are organized in a slightly different pattern. In addition, this or that state is not directly indicated. However, they can be extracted from the postal code or city. Due to some language and cultural differences, it may appear that some elements of the address are excluded; for example, in German, a street name and a street type can be combined into one element. nine0009

In addition, common place names such as Lincoln Center, Mount McKinley, or ZIP Code can also be considered as addresses in geocoding. In some cases, finding a location by zip code alone (ZIP Code) is the accepted norm because the area covered by a zip code can be easily identified.

Although all these addresses vary to some extent, some provisions remain constant. Each address consists of several elements, presented in a specific format that is recognized in a particular region. Understanding that all addresses contain certain address elements will help in determining which address style to use, as well as the address matching method. nine0009

Related Sections

Postal code and zip code – difference – Life

Video: How to Find a Zip Code. How to Find Your Zip Code. What is Postal Code from

Phone Contents

• Results Table
• Definitions
• Postal Code vs. Postal Code

The use of postal codes and zip codes ensures fast delivery of mail and parcels anywhere in the world. But did you know that the word ZIP is an acronym for something? Do zip codes and zip codes mean the same thing wherever you mail something? nine0009

TECHNISTRY TOMENTS

Definitions

Semester ZIP Code refers to a set of numeric codes developed by the United States Postal Service (USPS) with the primary function of locating and accurately routing mail to a recipient. It is a postal code system that has been part of every U.S. address since its inception in 1943. ZIP stands for Area Improvement Plan, which the USPS has come up with to reflect the efficient delivery of mail to a recipient when a zip code is included in a letter or letter. .

The basic postal code format consists of five digits. At 1983, an expanded ZIP+4 format was introduced. The new format consisted of five zip code digits, a hyphen, and four more digits that correspond to a more precise location in an existing zip code.

The use of zip codes began in 1943 with the introduction of postal districts or area numbers for major cities by the United States Post Office. In 1963, a more systematic method was needed, leading to the use of five-digit postal codes throughout the country. Three months later, the Post Office released a document containing a list of ZIP codes and an official list of two-letter state abbreviations. nine0009

In 1944, Robert Moon, a post office clerk, submitted a proposal that earned him the title “Father of the Postal Code.” The Post Office thanks Mun for the idea of ​​designating the first three digits of the postal code for the area’s central facility. The sectional center sorts and distributes mail to local post offices within its jurisdiction. There are four types of zip codes in the US. Government agencies, universities, and other organizations that receive exceptionally high volumes of mail use what are known as unique postcodes. Mailboxes only Postcodes are assigned to mailboxes at specific sites. Military zip codes are used in mail destined for the US Armed Forces. Everything else is called standard postcodes. nine0009

A The postal code is a combination of numbers and/or letters that form a postal address, which facilitates the efficient sorting and delivery of mail. The term “zip code” is known in many English-speaking countries as “zip code”, “Eircode”, “zip code” and “pin code”. Although there are certain postal codes in geographic regions, special codes are usually assigned to the addresses of organizations or institutions (eg, government agencies, large corporations) that receive an extremely high volume of mail. An example of such a system is French CEDEX which means “special business mail”.