OVERVIEW OF ZIP CODE PROJECTIONS

In addition to census tract forecasts, ABAG produces forecasts by zip code to accommodate demand for data organized in easy to use geographies like zip codes.

Even though zip codes vary in size, like Census tracts, zip codes tend to be smaller geographically in more populous areas than those in less populous areas. In the Bay Area, there are 285 zip codes covering the entire nine-county region.

It is important to note that there is a difference between U.S. Postal zip codes and the Census Bureau zip codes used by ABAG. Essentially, the Census Bureau uses a geographically corrected version of postal codes (Zip Code Tabulation Areas, or ZCTAs) that eliminates overlaps and gaps in the postal zip codes designated by the U.S. Postal Service.