This is the ONS Postcode Directory (ONSPD) for the United Kingdom as at February 2023 in Comma Separated Variable (CSV) and ASCII text (TXT) formats. This file contains the multi CSVs so that postcode areas can be opened in MS Excel. To download the zip file click the Download button. The ONSPD relates both current and terminated postcodes in the United Kingdom to a range of current statutory administrative, electoral, health and other area geographies. It also links postcodes to pre-2002 health areas, 1991 Census enumeration districts for England and Wales, 2001 Census Output Areas (OA) and Super Output Areas (SOA) for England and Wales, 2001 Census OAs and SOAs for Northern Ireland and 2001 Census OAs and Data Zones (DZ) for Scotland. It now contains 2021 Census OAs and SOAs for England and Wales. It helps support the production of area based statistics from postcoded data. The ONSPD is produced by ONS Geography, who provide geographic support to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and geographic services used by other organisations. The ONSPD is issued quarterly. (File size - 234 MB)NOTE: The 2022 ONSPDs included an incorrect update of the ITL field with two LA changes in Northamptonshire. This error has been corrected from the February 2023 ONSPD.NOTE: There was an issue with the originally published file where some change orders yet to be included in OS Boundary-LineÔ (including The Cumbria (Structural Changes) Order 2022, The North Yorkshire (Structural Changes) Order 2022 and The Somerset (Structural Changes) Order 2022) were mistakenly implemented for terminated postcodes. Version 2 corrects this, so that ward codes E05014171–E05014393 are not yet included. Please note that this product contains Royal Mail, Gridlink, LPS (Northern Ireland), Ordnance Survey and ONS Intellectual Property Rights.

A lookup between postcodes and postcode sectors, postcode districts and postcode areas as at March 2021 in England and Wales (File size 5MB).

This dataset is a modelled dataset, describing the predicted population of cats per postcode district (e.g. YO41). This dataset gives the lower estimate for population for each district, and was generated as part of the delivery of commissioned research. The data contained within this dataset are modelled figures, based on lower 95th percentile national estimates for pet population, and available information on Veterinary activity across GB. The data are accurate as of 01/01/2015. The data provided are summarised to the postcode district level. Further information on this research is available in a research publication by James Aegerter, David Fouracre & Graham C. Smith, discussing the structure and density of pet cat and dog populations across Great Britain. Attribution statement: ©Crown Copyright, APHA 2016

Postcode area and district polygons derived from Ordnance Survey Open Data using R and GRASS. Method used was creating voronoi polygons from point postcode data and dissolving boundaries based on postcode area and district attributes.Contains OS data © Crown Copyright and database rightFile descriptions:postcode_polygons.gpkg: geopackage file containing two polygon layers: postcode_area and postcode_district.postcode_aggregator.R: R script to extract area and district from full postcode.postcode_aggregator.sh: GRASS/Bash script to convert point postcode data into polygons.postcode_overview.png: image of polygons available.

Open Postcode Geo is a postcode dataset and API optimised for geocoding applications. You can use Open Postcode Geo to geocode a dataset, geocode user input, and therefore build a proximity search.

Data is derived from the ONS (Office for National Statistics) postcode database and is free to use, subject to including attributions to ONS, OS (Ordinance Survey) and Royal Mail.

Information is also provided on a range of topics, including education, health, crime, business, etc.

Postcodes can be entered at area, district, sector, and unit level - see Postcode map for the geographical relationship between these.

This dataset is a modelled dataset, describing the predicted population of dogs per postcode district (e.g. YO41). This dataset gives the lower estimate for population for each district, and was generated as part of the delivery of commissioned research. The data contained within this dataset are modelled figures, based on lower 95th percentile national estimates for pet population, and available information on Veterinary activity across GB. The data are accurate as of 01/01/2015. The data provided are summarised to the postcode district level. Further information on this research is available in a research publication by James Aegerter, David Fouracre & Graham C. Smith, discussing the structure and density of pet cat and dog populations across Great Britain. Attribution statement: ©Crown Copyright, APHA 2016

This dataset is a modelled dataset, describing the mean dog ownership characteristics per household at a postcode district level(e.g. YO41). This dataset gives the mean household owership rate for each district, and was generated as part of the delivery of commissioned research. The data contained within this dataset are modelled figures, based on national estimates for pet population, and available information on Veterinary activity across GB. The data are accurate as of 01/01/2015. The data provided are summarised to the postcode district level. Further information on this research is available in a research publication by James Aegerter, David Fouracre & Graham C. Smith, discussing the structure and density of pet cat and dog populations across Great Britain. Attribution statement: ©Crown Copyright, APHA 2016

A lookup between 2011 Census enumeration postcodes for England and Wales, and the parishes / communities, wards and local authority districts as at 31 December 2011. Enumeration postcodes are a sub-Output Area (OA) geography used only for the publication of estimates of males, females and households in the 2011 Census. The enumeration postcodes are defined as only those valid unit postcodes that were recorded during the 2011 Census as containing usually resident population. Postcodes have been assigned using a ‘point-in-polygon’ methodology that plots each postcode's mean address (centroid) into the areas of each of the parishes / communities, wards and local authority districts (LAD). In England there is not a full coverage of parishes, so the 2011 Census enumeration postcodes that do not fall into a parish will have no parish allocation. There are also 23 parishes (0.2%) that do not contain any enumeration postcode centroids. This occurs where a parish contains population, but the centroid of the postcode falls outside the parish. In these instances it is not possible to allocate a postcode to the parish.

A lookup between postcodes and postcode sectors, postcode districts, postcode areas and 2021 Census Output Areas as at August 2022 in England and Wales (File size 13MB).

This dataset is a modelled dataset, describing the mean cat ownership characteristics per household at a postcode district level(e.g. YO41). This dataset gives the mean household owership rate for each district, and was generated as part of the delivery of commissioned research. The data contained within this dataset are modelled figures, based on national estimates for pet population, and available information on Veterinary activity across GB. The data are accurate as of 01/01/2015. The data provided are summarised to the postcode district level. Further information on this research is available in a research publication by James Aegerter, David Fouracre & Graham C. Smith, discussing the structure and density of pet cat and dog populations across Great Britain.

This dataset represents the Postal Boundaries for 2012. Included in the zip file are postcode Areas (AB, EH,..), districts (AB1, AB2,..) and sectors (AB1 1, AB1 2, ..). This data was sourced from Geolytix (https://blog.geolytix.net/2012-11-20-postal-sector-boundaries-by-geolytix/). The source data is released under a OGL licence which allows users to use the data without charge but requires them to attribute the following: Postal Boundaries (c) GeoLytix copyright and database right 2012 Contains Ordnance Survey data (c) Crown copyright and database right 2012 Contains Royal Mail data (c) Royal Mail copyright and database right 2012 Contains National Statistics data (c) Crown copyright and database right 2012. GIS vector data. This dataset was first accessioned in the EDINA ShareGeo Open repository on 2014-03-14 and migrated to Edinburgh DataShare on 2017-02-22.

1,572,685 polygon records with EASTING,NORTHING and PAREA (postcode area) fields. Individual polygons could be aggregated using PAREA field and entire coverage clipped to a coastline dataset to give a GB Postcode Area dataset. Dataset created by reducing all records in Code-Point Open to a unique point set based on Easting & Northing, allocating the most frequently occurring postcode area at each unique location by sub-stringing unit postcode labels and then creating a thiessen polygon coverage from the pointset in arcinfo workstation. GIS vector data. This dataset was first accessioned in the EDINA ShareGeo Open repository on 2010-09-13 and migrated to Edinburgh DataShare on 2017-02-21.

Data shows postcode to higher index geography for Glasgow. It shows a look up of postcodes to higher index area geographies which includes; output areas, data zones, intermediate geographies and Multi-member wards. Postcodes are the smallest 'administrative' unit in Scotland. There are two types of unit postcode; large postcode units which receive at least 1000 mail items per day and small postcode units which specifies a single address or a group of delivery points within a locality. Each small postcode unit contains an average of fifteen adjoining addresses. For a detailed background information to postcodes in Scotland, please click here. Contains NRS data (c) Crown copyright 2014. Contains Ordnance Survey data (c) Crown copyright 2014. Licence: None

Dataset contains polygons corresponding to the top level (Postcode Area) of the GB Postcode Hierarchy. Thiessen polygons were generated from all records in OS OpenData Code-Point Open. Resulting coverage was dissolved up to postcode area level and then clipped to GB extent of the realm using OS OpenData Boundary-Line. Names of postcode areas were added from Wikipedia. GIS vector data. This dataset was first accessioned in the EDINA ShareGeo Open repository on 2010-07-22 and migrated to Edinburgh DataShare on 2017-02-21.

Please note that Deprivation Ranks are released at Lower Super Output Area/Data Zone level and are not for each individual postcode.

The first resource below provides a list of all 2011 census frozen postcodes across the UK as well as the:

• Postcode's location in the UK (British National Grid, Irish Grid, Latitude-Longitude)
• Total persons recorded in that postcode
• Female or male breakdown of the postcode
• Number of occupied households in that postcode
• The Lower Super Output Area or Data Zone in which the postcode resides
• The Output Area or Small Area in which the postcode resides
• The Output Area's Classification:
  • OAC Supergroup (codes and names)
  • OAC Group (codes and names)
  • OAC Subgroups (codes and names)
• The Deprivation Ranks of the LSOA/DZ:
  • 2014 Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) Rank for 2011 LSOAs
  • 2015 English Index of Multiple Deprivation (EIMD) Score, Rank and Decile for 2011 LSOAs
  • 2016 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) Rank for 2011 Data Zones
  • 2017 Northern Irish Multiple Deprivation Measures (NIMDM) Rank for SOAs
  • Townsend Deprivation Index score and quintile of LSOAs and Data Zones
  • Townsend Deprivation Index score and quintile of Output Areas and Small Areas

Suppressed postcodes in Northern Ireland

For confidentiality reasons, counts were suppressed for postcodes that had less than 10 usual residents and had only 1, 2 or 3 households in them.

The Registrar General took steps to ensure that the confidentiality of respondents was fully protected. Accordingly, all published results from the 2011 Census (including those relating to Postcodes) were subject to statistical processes to ensure that individuals could not be identified. For these postcodes, averages were taken at Postcode District level and released in a separate table, which can be found below.

Missing postcodes

These postcodes are based upon the sets of enumeration postcodes provided by the three UK census agencies. Enumeration postcodes are a subset of the complete set of live postcodes at the time of the 2011 Census. These are aggregated to create census output areas, which are themselves aggregated to create most other census geographies.

Only postcodes with at least one resident person are included. Many postcodes, such as those assigned to businesses, don't have any resident populations and so won't appear in the table.

Postcodes are quite volatile; new postcodes are created and old ones are terminated regularly. Existing/live postcodes can also change through the addition or removal of delivery points. The ONSPD records all live and terminated postcodes. Each postcode has a date of introduction and, if relevant, a date of termination. Things are complicated further because postcodes can be re-used, so a postcode can be terminated and then reappear with a new date of introduction, replacing/removing the record for the previous instance of the postcode. Postcodes that weren't current at the time of the census also won't appear in the table.

The TIGER/Line shapefiles and related database files (.dbf) are an extract of selected geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). The MTDB represents a seamless national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts, however, each TIGER/Line shapefile is designed to stand alone as an independent data set, or they can be combined to cover the entire nation. ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) are approximate area representations of U.S. Postal Service (USPS) ZIP Code service areas that the Census Bureau creates to present statistical data for each decennial census. The Census Bureau delineates ZCTA boundaries for the United States, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands once each decade following the decennial census. Data users should not use ZCTAs to identify the official USPS ZIP Code for mail delivery. The USPS makes periodic changes to ZIP Codes to support more efficient mail delivery. The Census Bureau uses tabulation blocks as the basis for defining each ZCTA. Tabulation blocks are assigned to a ZCTA based on the most frequently occurring ZIP Code for the addresses contained within that block. The most frequently occurring ZIP Code also becomes the five-digit numeric code of the ZCTA. These codes may contain leading zeros. Blocks that do not contain addresses but are surrounded by a single ZCTA (enclaves) are assigned to the surrounding ZCTA. Because the Census Bureau only uses the most frequently occurring ZIP Code to assign blocks, a ZCTA may not exist for every USPS ZIP Code. Some ZIP Codes may not have a matching ZCTA because too few addresses were associated with the specific ZIP Code or the ZIP Code was not the most frequently occurring ZIP Code within any of the blocks where it exists. The ZCTA boundaries in this release are those delineated following the 2020 Census.

The 2005 First Edition TIGER/Line files are an extract of selected geographic and cartographic information from the Census TIGER database. The geographic coverage for a single TIGER/Line file is a county or statistical equivalent entity, with the coverage area based on the latest available governmental unit boundaries. The Census TIGER database represents a seamless national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts. However, each county-based TIGER/Line file is designed to stand alone as an independent data set or the files can be combined to cover the whole Nation. The 2005 First Edition TIGER/Line files consist of line segments representing physical features and governmental and statistical boundaries. The files contain information distributed over a series of record types for the spatial objects of a county. There are 19 record types, including the basic data record, the shape coordinate points, and geographic codes that can be used with appropriate software to prepare maps. Other geographic information contained in the files includes attributes such as feature identifiers/census feature class codes (CFCC) used to differentiate feature types, address ranges and ZIP Codes, codes for legal and statistical entities, latitude/longitude coordinates of linear and point features, landmark point features, area landmarks, and area boundaries.

The 2015 cartographic boundary shapefiles are simplified representations of selected geographic areas from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). These boundary files are specifically designed for small-scale thematic mapping. When possible, generalization is performed with the intent to maintain the hierarchical relationships among geographies and to maintain the alignment of geographies within a file set for a given year. Geographic areas may not align with the same areas from another year. Some geographies are available as nation-based files while others are available only as state-based files. ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) are approximate area representations of U.S. Postal Service (USPS) ZIP Code service areas that the Census Bureau creates to present statistical data for each decennial census. The Census Bureau delineates ZCTA boundaries for the United States, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands once each decade following the decennial census. Data users should not use ZCTAs to identify the official USPS ZIP Code for mail delivery. The USPS makes periodic changes to ZIP Codes to support more efficient mail delivery. The Census Bureau uses tabulation blocks as the basis for defining each ZCTA. Tabulation blocks are assigned to a ZCTA based on the most frequently occurring ZIP Code for the addresses contained within that block. The most frequently occurring ZIP Code also becomes the five-digit numeric code of the ZCTA. These codes may contain leading zeros. Blocks that do not contain addresses but are surrounded by a single ZCTA (enclaves) are assigned to the surrounding ZCTA. Because the Census Bureau only uses the most frequently occurring ZIP Code to assign blocks, a ZCTA may not exist for every USPS ZIP Code. Some ZIP Codes may not have a matching ZCTA because too few addresses were associated with the specific ZIP Code or the ZIP Code was not the most frequently occurring ZIP Code within any of the blocks where it exists. The generalized ZCTA boundaries in this file are based on those delineated following the 2010 Census.

Translation table from zip code to neighborhood and district. There are approximately 100 postal codes that fall into two neighbourhoods. This translation table is updated once a year. Around March of each year, the new zip code table is published and we can adjust the translation table.