USPS carrier routes explained

What is a carrier route?

The Postal Service splits every ZIP code into smaller delivery areas, one per carrier. That area is the carrier route. A carrier walks or drives the same route in the same order each day, which is why USPS can promise to put one piece in every mailbox on it.

For marketers, carrier routes are the smallest area you can target without a mailing list. Choose a route and you reach every household on it, which is exactly how Every Door Direct Mail works.

How to read a route code

Take 75201C034:

Route types

How to look up USPS carrier routes by ZIP code

1. Open the EDDM route map and type a ZIP code. You can check up to 5 ZIP codes at once.
2. See every carrier route in that ZIP drawn on the map, each with its code (like 75201C034) and its residential and business counts from USPS.
3. Click the routes you want. The totals update as you go, and you can download the list as a CSV for your printer.

USPS has its own EDDM tool on usps.com that uses the same route data. The route map adds side by side counts, several ZIP codes at once and a CSV download.

How to find the carrier route for one address

Use the ZIP Code Lookup on usps.com and search by address. Open the details of the result and look for the carrier route, a short code like C034. Put it after the ZIP code and you have the full route ID, for example 75201C034.

Then find that route on the EDDM route map to see its shape and how many homes are on it.

How many addresses are on a route?

It varies a lot. Dense city routes can cover well over a thousand homes; rural routes cover fewer homes spread over many miles. In Dallas ZIP 75201, for example, the three largest routes each have between about 1,340 and 1,410 homes, while smaller routes in the same ZIP have only a few hundred.

Each route has two counts that matter for EDDM:

• Residential: homes and apartments.
• Business: offices, shops and other business addresses.

With EDDM you choose residential only or all addresses. The EDDM route map shows both counts for every route.

How many carrier routes are in a ZIP code?

It depends on how dense the area is. A ZIP code in a big city can have dozens of carrier routes; a rural ZIP code may have only a few, each covering more ground. The official USPS EDDM tool lists every route in a ZIP code with its exact count.

To decide which ZIP codes to start with, compare them by households, houses and homeowners. Census numbers for the largest cities we cover:

Each city page ranks its ZIP codes for home services, real estate and restaurants. All cities: EDDM routes by city.

Carrier route vs ZIP code targeting

How to choose routes

1. Start from your service area

List the ZIP codes you serve, load them on the route map, and remove routes outside your normal driving range.

2. Look at the housing

Zoom into each route. Tight grids near downtown usually mean apartments, which suit restaurants and cleaners better than roofers or lawn care. Curving streets and cul-de-sacs usually mean houses.

3. Use your past customers

If most of your jobs come from a few neighborhoods, start with the routes that cover them. Neighbors of happy customers respond better than strangers.

4. Fit the budget, then test

Pick routes until the piece count fits your budget. Mail them with a different tracking code per route, then keep the routes that respond. See how to track EDDM by route.

USPS mail routes, postal routes and delivery routes

Mail route, postal route, delivery route and carrier route all mean the same thing in everyday use: the set of addresses one carrier delivers to. USPS calls it a carrier route, and each one has an ID like 75201C034. There are three kinds of street route:

Letter carrier routes (city routes)

City routes, type C, are served by city letter carriers, on foot, from a vehicle with park and loop stops, or to curbside boxes. Most US homes are on one.

Rural routes and rural carriers

Rural routes, type R, are served by rural carriers who usually drive the whole route and deliver to roadside boxes. They can be very long. In 2025 USPS described a rural route where the carrier drives 195 miles a day to reach 305 mailboxes.

Highway contract routes

Type H routes are run by contractors instead of USPS staff, mostly in remote areas. For EDDM they work like any other route.

To see the mail routes in your area, enter a ZIP code in the official USPS EDDM tool, or start from your city on EDDM routes by city.

USPS carrier route maps

There is no free national map of every carrier route, but you can see the routes for any area you care about:

• By ZIP code: the EDDM route map draws every route in up to 5 ZIP codes, with home and business counts.
• By city: each city on EDDM routes by city lists its ZIP codes and homes, with the steps for the USPS tool.
• On usps.com: the USPS EDDM online tool shows the same routes when you order.

Rural routes look very different on a map. A rural route (R) can run for miles along country roads, while a city route (C) may be a few blocks. That is why rural ZIP codes have fewer routes covering more ground.

Can you track your mail carrier’s route?

Not live. USPS does not show where a carrier is during the day. What you can do:

• Informed Delivery from USPS is free. It emails you a preview of the letters coming today and lists your packages.
• Package tracking shows when a parcel is out for delivery.
• Your carrier route tells you which area your carrier covers. Carriers deliver in the same order each day, so mail usually comes around the same time.

If you send flyers, there is something you can track: who responds from each route. Give each route its own QR code and you see which routes paid off. See how to track EDDM by route.

Things that surprise people about routes

• Routes change. USPS adjusts routes as neighborhoods grow, so counts and shapes shift over time. Always check counts close to your print date.
• You cannot split a route. EDDM delivers to the whole route. For single streets you need an addressed mailing list.
• Route lines follow streets, not neighborhood borders. A route can cross what you think of as two neighborhoods.
• PO box sections are separate. B routes reach box holders at the Post Office, not homes.

Frequently asked questions

Last updated November 5, 2026.

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