I have worked in the telecommunications industry for well over a decade (almost two). And in these past many years, I would argue that we have seen the greatest amount of change in telecommunications ever…perhaps the kind of fundamental change and advancement that we may not actually see repeated again in the next decade. But I digress.
As I have worked with many B2B telecommunications providers, as well as some residential services providers, the zip code has always been a key ingredient used for many purposes in this industry, more so than other industries and sometimes more so than it even makes sense these days. The reliance on zip code in telecommunications may change at some point, but in recent discussions, I realized that many people do not realize the general layout of zip codes in the US.
So rather than getting into advancements in telecommunications or specific uses of zip codes in the industry (or how they might be relied upon so heavily), I thought I would just share with you the following map indicating the general setup of US zip codes. Enjoy. And if you get really curious, browse around this link too. You can browse, search, and click specific areas to see the zip code.
Though you may not get interested enough to start recognizing places by zip code only, you might appreciate the following info (from Wikipedia) that could get you a good start — in combination with studying the map briefly to notice the right to left pattern.
The first digit of the ZIP code is allocated as follows:
- 0 = Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA), Maine (ME), New Hampshire (NH), New Jersey (NJ), Puerto Rico (PR), Rhode Island (RI), Vermont (VT), Virgin Islands (VI), Army Post Office Europe (AE), Fleet Post Office Europe (AE)
- 1 = Delaware (DE), New York (NY), Pennsylvania (PA)
- 2 = District of Columbia (DC), Maryland (MD), North Carolina (NC), South Carolina (SC), Virginia (VA), West Virginia (WV)
- 3 = Alabama (AL), Florida (FL), Georgia (GA), Mississippi (MS), Tennessee (TN), Army Post Office Americas (AA), Fleet Post Office Americas (AA)
- 4 = Indiana (IN), Kentucky (KY), Michigan (MI), Ohio (OH)
- 5 = Iowa (IA), Minnesota (MN), Montana (MT), North Dakota (ND), South Dakota (SD), Wisconsin (WI)
- 6 = Illinois (IL), Kansas (KS), Missouri (MO), Nebraska (NE)
- 7 = Arkansas (AR), Louisiana (LA), Oklahoma (OK), Texas (TX)
- 8 = Arizona (AZ), Colorado (CO), Idaho (ID), New Mexico (NM), Nevada (NV), Utah (UT), Wyoming (WY)
- 9 = Alaska (AK), American Samoa (AS), California (CA), Guam (GU), Hawaii (HI), Marshall Islands (MH), Federated States of Micronesia (FM), Northern Mariana Islands (MP), Oregon (OR), Palau(PW), Washington (WA), Army Post Office Pacific (AP), Fleet Post Office Pacific (AP)