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If You're a Data Geek...

Posted by Eric de Place

11/27/2007 04:55 PM

Everything you want to know, by zip code.

...go ahead and say goodbye to the next half hour of your life.

That's if you're lucky.

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I found that site hard to make sense of until I could see maps of the areas enclosed by each ZIP code, such as here: http://maps.huge.info/zip.htm . Now if only they'd add that information to the zipskinny pages....

Posted by Finish 11/29/2007 06:59 PM

I was intrigued when I saw that "98174" was the 31st most dense zip code in the US. But what exactly is 98174? I think it's just one commercial city block in downtown seattle.

http://www.city-data.com/zips/98174.html

Anyone have any insight here?

Posted by Eric de Place 11/30/2007 11:05 AM

Great question, Finish!!! That was driving me crazy for ages. Turns out, it's the downtown Seattle federal building. I have no idea why it has its own zip code, but by virtue of the fact that it has 180 residential addresses in such a small area, it ranks as the densest non-NYC zip code in the US.

Posted by Alan Durning 11/30/2007 12:12 PM

People live at the Federal Building ????!!!

Maybe they have addresses there but live overseas? Or something strange like that?

Posted by Eric de Place 11/30/2007 12:47 PM

I have no idea, Alan. What I can't figure out is why Seattle's federal building would have its own zip code and residential addresses but, at a cursory glance, other federal buildings in othe places don't. What's that about?

On a related note, I'd be curious to know how zip code density treats prisons, military bases, and other such institutions that are quite dense. I assume they're usually included in the larger geographic zip code surrounding the institution. But then why would our federal bldg have it's own?

Another curiosity, if you click on the link Eldan provided above, you'll find that Seattle actually has another 1-square-block zip code downtown. I'm not sure what that building is, but someone should go find out.

Posted by eldan 12/10/2007 05:16 PM

On the ZIP area map, I see three blocks outlined in different colours from 98101/98104. Going by lostinseattle.com , they are:

Madison-Spring-3rd-4th: Seafirst Building
Madison-Marion-4th-5th: Union Bank of California building
Madison-Marion-1st-2nd: Jackson Federal Building

Lost In Seattle gives all of their zip codes as 98104, but that includes the Federal Building, so it's probably wrong.