ZipElm

Tool

Distance between ZIP codes

Useful for quoting shipping, planning a delivery route, or comparing two locations before you decide. Results in seconds, nothing to sign up for.

ZipElm is an independent, unofficial site, not affiliated with the United States Postal Service. For official ZIP code and address information, use the USPS ZIP Code Lookup. Where our data comes from.

What is this useful for?

  • Quoting shipping: many carrier rates scale with distance bands — a quick estimate avoids surprises.
  • Planning delivery coverage: if your business delivers within a certain radius, see which ZIP codes fall inside it.
  • Comparing locations: before moving or opening a location, compare how close it is to other places that matter to you.

The calculation uses the geographic center of each ZIP Code Tabulation Area and the Haversine formula (straight-line distance, accounting for the Earth's curvature) — not driving distance, which is almost always longer.

Don't know a ZIP code? Find it by your locationor look it up by state and city.

Frequently asked questions

Why doesn't this match Google Maps?+

They measure different things: this tool calculates the straight-line distance between the center points of two ZIP codes ("as the crow flies"), while Google Maps calculates the actual driving route. Road distance is almost always longer, sometimes much longer if there are hills, rivers or lakes in between.

How accurate is each ZIP code's location?+

We use the Census Bureau's geographic center of the ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA), not an exact street address. For a large ZIP code that spans several neighborhoods, the real origin or destination can be a few hundred meters to a couple of miles from that center — enough to estimate coverage or compare options, not for turn-by-turn navigation.

I entered a valid ZIP and it still shows an error, why?+

A small share of ZIP codes — mostly PO Box-only and unique-organization codes — don't have published Census coordinates. If either of the two you entered is one of those, we can't calculate a distance yet.