Research Guides: Census Data: Census Data by ZIP Code

ZIP Code vs. ZCTA's

The Postal Service uses ZIP codes to deliver mail. It is a delivery system. The Census Bureau uses Zip Code Tabulating Areas (ZCTA's) to simulate ZIP codes areas for data purposes.

For an alternative viewpoint on using ZIP codes for geographic analysis, see the following article from Towards Data Science (08/04/2019): "Stop Using Zip Codes for Data Analysis."

ZIP Code Tabulating Areas ZCTA's
This page from the Census Bureau explains what ZCTA's are and how they are different from ZIP codes.

North American lists of Postal Codes

GeoCoder.ca
Use this site to find lists of postal codes and centroids for the U. S. and Canada. You can download lists or look-up at code.

Finding Census Data for ZCTAs

Social Explorer
Call Number: Electronic resource
Their objective is to help you visually analyze and understand the demography of the U.S. through the use of interactive maps and data reports. You can map all types of demographic data including immigration.
PolicyMap by The Reinvestment Fund
Call Number: Electronic resource
PolicyMap is a fully web-based online data and mapping application that gives you access to over 15,000 indicators related to demographics, housing, crime, mortgages, health, jobs and more.

Data Online

Explore census data
Data.census.gov is the new platform to access demographic and economic data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The vision for data.census.gov is to improve the customer experience by making data available from one centralized place so that data users spend less time searching for data and content, and more time using it. ...
Use the Chrome browser for best results.
United States ZIP code.org
UnitedStatesZipCodes.org is the most comprehensive resource for United States zip code data.
The ZIP Code Resources Page
This page is from the Missouri Data Center. The page is similar to an FAQ page without the Q's and A's.