District of Columbia ZIP Codes: Ranges, Prefixes and Major Cities
Whether you are building an address form, cleaning a mailing list or testing shipping rules, it helps to know how ZIP codes work in District of Columbia. The state has 300 active codes spread across 1 counties.
ZIP code range and prefixes
Every District of Columbia ZIP code starts with one of 7 three-digit prefixes. Each prefix points to a sectional center facility, the processing plant that sorts mail for a group of nearby post offices.
- 200
- 202
- 203
- 204
- 205
- 569
- 888
Types of ZIP codes in District of Columbia
| Type | Count | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 30 | Street delivery areas |
| PO Box | 18 | Post office boxes only |
| Unique | 252 | A single high-volume organization |
ZIP codes for major District of Columbia cities
| City | County | Standard ZIPs | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | District of Columbia | 25 | 20001–20500 |
| Washington Navy Yard | District of Columbia | 5 | 20374–20398 |
Washington is the state capital. Larger cities have many ZIP codes because each code follows mail delivery routes, not city limits.
Sample addresses
These examples use real city and ZIP pairs with invented street lines, so they are safe for testing and documentation.
Tips for working with these ZIP codes
- Store ZIP codes as text, not numbers, so the format stays consistent across states with leading zeros.
- All of District of Columbia is in the Eastern time zone, which keeps scheduling logic simple.
- A quick sanity check: a valid DC ZIP code begins with one of the prefixes listed above.
- City names in addresses are post office names. A suburb may share a ZIP code and city name with a nearby larger town.
Create realistic District of Columbia addresses for testing, with real cities, counties and ZIP codes.
Generate District of Columbia addresses