Why a ZIP code cannot confirm internet availability.

What the national analysis found

We counted unique 2020 Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) with a positive land intersection in the 50 states and District of Columbia. A ZCTA is the Census Bureau's statistical representation of ZIP address patterns. Not every postal ZIP has a ZCTA [1].

These measures overlap. Do not add them together. Even a small land intersection counts; none of these figures measures homes, subscribers, provider coverage or the share of a ZIP that can order service.

What this means for your ZIP

A postal city name, a Census place and a provider's service area answer different questions. These examples show named geographic intersections, not whole towns contained in a ZIP.

Why does ZIP 28374 show Pinehurst?

Our ZIP tool labels 28374 as Pinehurst, North Carolina. Its selected FCC research area is Pinehurst village, Census place 3751940. That whole-place report is a starting point; it is not a report for every home in postal ZIP 28374. The 2020 ZCTA also intersects Southern Pines and Taylortown.

The FCC distinguishes a location search from an area summary [5]. Our area data is provider-reported [6], as of December 31, 2025, revised October 13, 2026. A listed company does not establish an eligible local product, speed, price or Tarheel ordering route. A company missing from the selected area report does not establish that it cannot serve your address.

Use the complete street address and unit for qualification. Then compare that eligible plan's Broadband Facts label and full quote costs. A ZIP search never places an order.

Results for every state

Choose a state name to open its internet research guide. Each row includes every ZCTA intersecting that state, and describes those ZCTAs across the full study scope. A cross-state ZCTA appears in multiple rows, so state totals must not be added. “Multiple places” means named incorporated or statistical Census places; unnamed remainder areas are excluded.

How we calculated the counts

Tarheel Connect calculated these results from two national 2020 Census relationship files [2]: ZCTA-to-county and ZCTA-to-place. We did not survey households or measure broadband service.

1. Keep rows where AREALAND_PART > 0. Exclude water-only intersections.
2. Use the county GEOID's state prefix to retain the 50 states and DC. Territories are outside this study.
3. Deduplicate exact ZCTA, county and named-place GEOIDs. Count states from the retained county GEOIDs. Preserve five-digit ZCTA codes, including leading zeros.
4. For each ZCTA, count its distinct states, counties and named places. Count it once nationally, and once for each state it intersects.

The downloadable summary records source hashes, definitions and examples. The CSV contains the retained identifiers and names, so the national and state counts can be independently recomputed.

Limits that matter

• 2020 statistical boundaries are not a current USPS address-validation service. ZIP labels and geographic boundaries can change.
• Any positive land intersection counts, including tiny slivers. Counts do not describe how much land or how many households overlap.
• County-equivalents and statistical places are included. The Connecticut rows use 2020 counties, not the later planning-region county equivalents.
• Places with no assigned name and water-only intersections do not count as named-place intersections. A ZCTA can have no named place.
• No Census or FCC geography match confirms a provider at a home. Full-address qualification and current ordering terms remain separate.

Download and check the data

• Download the per-ZCTA CSV · 33,642 data rows; state, county and place identifiers and names.
• Download the summary JSON · national and state counts, definitions, source hashes and examples.

Import the ZCTA column as text to retain leading zeros. County and place lists are JSON arrays inside quoted CSV cells. To cite this analysis, use: Tarheel Connect, “Why a ZIP code cannot confirm internet availability,” October 15, 2026; 2020 Census geography. Link this page so readers can see the method and limitations.