Canadian postal codes consist of six characters that identify the postal district, numeric and alpha digits to specify the delivery address. They include a first letter to indicate one of 18 postal districts, followed by a numeric digit and two alpha characters, such as E3V 3K7 for Edmunston, New Brunswick. With over 850,000 postal codes currently in use and capacity for up to 12.2 million codes, the system provides more granular address specification than the five-digit US ZIP codes.

1. Canadian Postal
Codes
What do they mean?

2. PNA NAN
• P = Postal District – One of 18 alphabet characters
• N = Numeric digit 0-9
• A = Alpha digit A-Z
• Examples:
• E3V 3K7 (Edmunston , New Brunswick)
• E1E 2K6 (Moncton, Nova Scotia)

3. 18 Postal Districts

4. How Many Postal Codes?
• Current estimates over 850,000 in use
• Practical limit around 12.2 million
• Compare to US 5-digit ZIP code:
• Around 40,000 in use
• 100,000 limit

5. Letters to Santa Claus
• In 1974, Santa’s Helper’s began
answering worldwide letters to
Santa Claus
• Santa’s Address:
Santa Claus
North Pole H0H 0H0
Canada

6. Wrap Up
• Canadian Postal Codes are different from US ZIP codes but
serve the same purpose
• A mix of alphabet and numbers
• Six placeholders
• First letter represents the Postal District
• Over 800,000 in use with a mathematical potential of 12.2
million.