ZIP codes, cities, coordinates, and FIPS — quick answers

How do I find the city, county, and FIPS code for a ZIP code?#

Look the ZIP up in a ZIP-to-place table keyed on the 5-digit zip_code. The matching row returns the city (primary_city), the county (primary_county), the 5-digit county FIPS (county_fips), and the 7-digit place FIPS (fips_place_code). A ZIP has two FIPS codes, not one: county FIPS is 5 digits; place (city) FIPS is 7.

One ZIP can cross more than one place, so a clean table marks the primary city and county for the ZIP rather than guessing a single answer. For a single ZIP, use the ZIP code lookup tool.

For a whole column of ZIPs at once — every row carrying primary_county, county_fips, fips_place_code, lat, and lng — see the ZIP Code List with Coordinates ($29). Prefer to look first? Download the free 100-row ZIP sample.

How do I add latitude and longitude to a list of cities?#

Match each city to a reference List that already carries coordinates, then copy the lat and lng columns across. Join on city name plus state (name + state_name) or, if you have it, on the 7-digit fips_place_code — the place code is exact, so it avoids the duplicate-name problem that city names alone create.

In a spreadsheet that is an XLOOKUP or VLOOKUP; in Python it is a pandas merge. Either way the reference List does the geocoding — no per-row API call and no rate limit. For a few cities, use the city geocoder tool.

For the full file, the City List with Coordinates ($29) carries lat and lng for 48,490 places. Get the free Basic City List to check the format and the join keys first.

How do I plot a list of cities or ZIP codes on a map?#

Give each row a latitude and longitude, then load the file into your mapping tool. A List with lat and lng in decimal degrees (WGS 84) drops straight into Google Maps, Leaflet, Mapbox, Tableau, or a GIS import — one row becomes one point, with no separate geocoding step.

For a handful of places, the city geocoder tool returns coordinates one at a time. For the whole map, the City List with Coordinates ($29) carries lat/lng for 48,490 places and the ZIP Code List with Coordinates ($29) covers 33,799 ZIP codes. Download the free 100-row sample to test your map first.

Where does the location data come from, and how accurate is it?#

Every column is compiled from U.S. Census Bureau, HUD, and Department of the Interior releases — the authoritative federal sources for U.S. places — then cleaned and joined on the FIPS code into one file. Those sources are public and free; what the List adds is the work of stitching separate releases, in different formats and keys, into one consistent CSV.

That consistency is the accuracy. All 48,490 city rows carry the same columns, typed and validated the same way and keyed on fips_place_code, so a place, its county, and its coordinates always line up. Estimates are marked as estimates: population is a 2024 figure and the Demographics tier's income and housing columns are 5-year averages. Download the free 100-row sample to check the values against your own records, or open the City List with Coordinates ($29) for the full file.

What happens with duplicate city names like Springfield?#

Every place is disambiguated by state and by its 7-digit fips_place_code, so identical names never collide. There are dozens of Springfields; each has its own row, its own state_name, and its own fips_place_code — Springfield, Illinois (1772000) is a different row from Springfield, Missouri (2970000).

This is why joining on fips_place_code beats joining on a name: the place code is unique, so a match is unambiguous. When you only have names, add state_name to the join to separate the duplicates. The City List with Coordinates ($29) carries both keys in every row.

Can I get every U.S. city or ZIP in one file, with coordinates and FIPS?#

Yes. One List, one download, every row: the City List with Coordinates ($29) covers 48,490 cities, towns, villages, and CDPs with fips_place_code, lat, lng, county, and geohash columns; the ZIP Code List with Coordinates ($29) covers ZIP codes with county_fips, fips_place_code, lat, and lng.

It is one UTF-8 CSV that opens in Excel, Google Sheets, or pandas, delivered as an instant download after checkout. There is no bulk export from the free tools — those are for single lookups — so the List is how you get the whole file. Download the free 100-row sample to integrate against before you buy.

Can I map ZIP codes to latitude and longitude — and to city and county?#

Yes — one ZIP-to-place table gives you all four. Keyed on the 5-digit zip_code, each row carries lat, lng, primary_city, primary_county, and the county_fips and fips_place_code codes, so a single lookup takes a ZIP to a point on the map and to its city and county at once.

For one ZIP, the ZIP code lookup tool returns all of it. For a column of ZIPs, the ZIP Code List with Coordinates ($29) is the full file — 33,799 rows, one CSV. Coordinates are signed decimals in WGS 84 (for example, 40.7128, -74.0060). Download the free 100-row ZIP sample to start.