The mailman still rings the doorbell. And of course, long distance calls have got longer. Area codes and ZIP codes ensure the calls connect correctly and our snail mail gets delivered efficiently.

ZIP (Zoning Improvement Plan) codes started as a way of efficiently sorting and delivering the large volume of mail. Different countries have different addressing systems, and their own versions of ZIP codes.

The United States calls it ZIP (or the more precise ZIP+4), many other countries have names like Postal Codes, Postcodes, or PIN codes. What's common is the uniqueness of alpha-numeric combinations for sorting mail.

Telephones use area codes similarly as a numbering system. Area codes are part of the telephone number that connects to specific telephone exchanges in specific areas. But for us, it's directly related to the cost of a call.

When it comes to area codes and ZIP codes, the year's diary or the ever helpful search engine is called up. This ten member list is an attempt to shorten that process by making it within reach of a bookmark. We are primarily looking at zip code and area code information for the U.S through the following zip code finder and area code finder sites.

United States Postal Service

zip code finder

USPS is the de facto zip code finder site if you want to look for zip code information. After all they are the ones who first decided on it. You can click on any of the four tabs to search by address, by city, by company, or find all cities that are covered by one zip code.

ZIPMaps

area code finder

ZIPMaps has a Google Map based interface that shows the boundaries of each zip code. The zip code finder search can pinpoint any of the 41,533 zip code locations indexed by it. You can key in the zip or the address (it can be just a city and state, the state, or a partial address) to get the general area on the map. You can also click on a spot on the map to get the corresponding zip code. You also get the area codes for the location.

The Zip Codes by Radius can be used to search for zip codes by a radius of miles.

Simply Zip Codes

area code finder

You have a few related zip code finder services bundled here. You can do a simple zip code lookup; find the distance between two zip codes; lookup multiple zip codes at once; do a radius search around a zip code; and find all of the zip codes associated with a particular city.

The Area Code Lookup [Broken URL Removed] utility also helps to find all of the cities within a keyed in area code. You will get a list of cities, states, and zip codes.

MapsZipcode

area code finder

MapsZipcode.com is a simple free reverse zip code search tool that gives you the location plus the view on a Google map. You can also search for the zip code if you know the city or the state. Then there is the US map based search which lets you click on the state and then drill down to the city. Other free zip code tools include a distance finder between two zip codes and another one that finds all zip codes in that proximity.

Langenberg.com

free zip code finder

This free zip code search includes a lot of useful search tools and puts them conveniently on one page. It is basically a frontend which sources the information from other databases. Broadly, the search tools cover - Zip Code, Area Code, City, Country, Time Zones, and Zip Code Maps & Surrounding Zips.

Zip-codes

free zip code finder

The site has a free zip code and area code finder and a few other tools located on the sidebar. The service is actually a combination of free and business offerings. What sets this site apart is the sheer detail of the information it provides which are taken from census data.

BrainyZip [No Longer Available]

free zip code finder

BrainyZip gives you two lists to work with "“ Browse by State or Browse by Zip. You can also avail the Google Custom Search box as a shortcut. What you get in the end is an outlook on the demographic, social, economic, and housing situation of the area covered by the zip code.

Verizon - Area Code Lookup [Broken URL Removed]

The telecom company's website has a simple query tool for finding the area codes of U.S states. You also get the local time information next to the location info.

Country Calling Codes

Two dropdowns let you select the country you are calling from and the country you are making the call to. It's a very quick way to get the international calling codes for any country in the world. You also can take the help of the Reverse Lookup Tool where you select a country calling code, then "˜reverse it' to find the corresponding country.

Address Doctor

zip code finder

Address Doctor is a specialized site that caters to address verification services globally. Among its host of paid services, it has a nice free zip code finder tool that helps to lookup postal code info for 246 countries and territories around the world. Another useful tool to check out to write your addresses as per the norms is Address Formats.

In the age of intelligent barcodes and GPS systems, the age old system of zip codes and area codes haven't lost their importance, and probably never will. Do you know of any other great site that covers these lookups as well or better? Drop the addresses in the comments below.

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