
Analyze the Demographics of a Larger Geographic Area: Simplify your demographic research by increasing the size of the areas you’re analyzing.Create Distribution Areas: Do you work in transportation or logistics? Use three-digit zip codes to establish distribution centers throughout a city.Establish Sales Territories: Combine zip codes into several larger areas to use as sales territories for your team.If you’re looking to divide cities into multiple areas you’ll find that three-digit zip codes are usually the ideal size. Standard zip codes are a useful geographic boundary, but they are rather small compared to other boundaries. Why Use 3 Digit Zip Codes Instead of 5 Digit Zip Codes? So, a three-digit zip code represents a regional area and is made up of several smaller five-digit zip codes. This is the area that the mail is actually being delivered to. Delivery Area: Every regional area is divided up further into several delivery areas, indicated by the last two digits of a zip code.Each of these areas has a sectional center facility that sorts and distributes mail. Regional Area: The ten national areas are divided up into smaller geographic regions (usually ten per state), determined by the next two digits.The first digit of a zip code indicates which one of those groups an address is located in. National Area: The United States is divided up into ten groups of states called national areas.Each zip code is divided up into three parts: This is what most homes and businesses use.Ī three-digit zip code is simply the first three numbers in a zip code. Standard Zip Codes: Any address that doesn’t fall into one of the above categories is given a standard zip code.Military Zip Codes: These are used for any mail or deliveries being sent to the U.S.

boxes are also given their own zip codes.

There are actually four different types of zip codes used by the United States Postal Service to make sure our mail is delivered to the right location: Use these boundaries to analyze larger areas at a time and take a higher-level look at your map. Three-digit zip codes divide your map into bigger territories. US zip codes are a popular boundary to use, but what if you want something larger than the standard five-digit code?

Dividing maps up based on established geographic boundaries is a great way to create sales territories and analyze demographic information.
