We've received requests from clients wanting to know if a ZIP Code is Rural, Suburban or Urban. After looking into it, we realized that nobody had this type of data, so we developed our own product which defines a rural ZIP Code vs. an urban ZIP Code vs. those considered suburban ZIP Codes..

So what makes a ZIP Code urban vs. suburban vs. rural? We determine whether a ZIP Code is rural or otherwise based on three key factors: what is the population density for the ZIP Code (the number of people per square mile), what's the distance from the nearest city, and we also factor in the size of the city (the larger the city, the farther the urban and suburban areas can extend). It gets very complicated and can be subjective some times, but we've worked on assigning most ZIP Codes a code of either R, U, or S (for rural, urban, suburban).

There are some ZIP Codes which we couldn't assign a code for. These include military APO/FPO boxes, PO Boxes, etc. Also, on some ZIP Codes we couldn't get accurate population counts (new zips primarily).

This file is sold with the understanding that some areas are subjective. Some ZIP Codes are borderline and one person may consider it rural and another suburban, for instance. We can check any disputed areas. For accuracy, we cross-check our data with other sources of information as well.

There are no scheduled releases for this product, but we have been regularly updating it as ZIP Codes are added and we receive population updates. The price includes the initial version of the data, plus any updates which are made available during the year.

The price for this manually verified product is only $350 per year.

Read the PDF documentation for this product.

Go to our Download Page to try a demo of the data!

100% money back guarantee—you can't go wrong!