Learn English – What do you call the second chunk of an address

phrase-requeststerminology

Say I have an address like:

123 Main St., Bldg. #456
Schenectady, NY, 12345

I know the chunk I put on first line is called the "Street Address", but what is the chunk I put on the second line called? I just call it the "City/State/Zip", but I want a more general term, especially for international addresses where there aren't states or zip codes, like:

PO Box 4001 Stn A
Victoria BC V8X 3X4

1-5-3 Yaesu, Chuo-ku
Tokyo 100-8994.

3 Edgar Buildings, George Street
Bath, England, BA1 2FJ

I find that most addresses, if not all, can be separated into these two parts:

  1. A very granular piece that answers questions like "What building on what street?" and "What room in that building?" It's usually no less precise than a hundred meters and can stand alone without any more information to pinpoint a location.
  2. A very general piece that answers questions like "What part of what country?" "What district?" This one's usually no more precise than a few kilometers, and can generally be exposed publicly without violating privacy.

I was spurred to find this term when tasked with creating a form where a customer must input their address. I started by modelling it off established paper and online forms like these, which have "Home address", "Address Line n", or "Street address" in distinctly separate fields from the city, state/province/city, and zip/postal code:

Voter registration forms

A sample of a voter registration form displaying fields for "Home Address", "Apt. or Lot #", "City/Town", "State", and "Zip Code".

Employment Applications

A sample of a employment application form displaying fields for "Street Address", "Apartment/Unit #", "City", "State", and "Zip Code".

Certificate Applications

A sample of a certificate application form displaying fields for "Address Line 1", "Address Line 2", "Suburb/Town", "State", and "Postalcode".

Basic shipping address forms

A sample of a shipping address form with fields for "Name", "Address", "Address", "City", "State", and "Zip".

Ad nauseum. The examples are easy to find by Googling "example _______ form".

Best Answer

There does not seem to be a generally accepted term for the part of a street address which identifies the city, state, and postal code. I suggest you choose a term that makes sense to you and define it for your readers.

One interagency committee called the “Address Standards Working Group” has worked on the problem of a street address data standard. They called these parts, separately and together, the Larger Areas of the street address. Maybe you will find that choice useful.

(The larger areas are what make the street name and number unambiguous. For example, there are many 101 Main Streets. Identifying a larger area which resolves the ambiguity is necessary, such as “Hazlet, Texas” or “50112”.)

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