The United States Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) National Address Database is a spacial database of addresses and transportation related points of the United States. The NAD is designed to support transportation planning and management, however it remains incomplete. This is due to low capacity and resources to collect data, prohibitions on sharing, and out of date information.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) maintains an address database of 163 million properties. It serves as a comprehensive database of all addresses in the United States, ensuring mail and packages are delivered to the correct destination. This database includes not only residential addresses, but also business addresses, post office boxes, and other unique locations. It is updated regularly to reflect changes in the address information.
Read our guide on USPS Address Guidelines and Missing Addresses to learn more.
An address database is essential for businesses as it helps to standardise and verify customer addresses, reducing the likelihood of undelivered goods and services. It also helps to improve operational efficiency by streamlining the address capture process, reducing manual data entry errors, and improving data accuracy.
Address verification uses an address database from authoritative sources through an API, providing real-time data capture. When a user inputs an address, the address validation system checks the data against the National Address Database to verify its accuracy.
AddressZen data is sourced directly from USPS to ensure the accuracy of results. Sign up and receive a free balance to test today. Contact us if you have any questions.