The Most Populous ZIP Codes in America

The U.S. has roughly 33,000 active residential ZIP codes (ZCTAs in Census terms). The smallest contain a few hundred people; the largest contain over 110,000. The largest cluster heavily in the Sun Belt — South Texas, Houston suburbs, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and the Florida exurbs.

The top ten

ZIP 79936 in El Paso, TX has long topped this list with roughly 113,000 residents. Other consistent top-ten members include 11368 (Corona, Queens, NY), 60629 (Chicago Southwest Side), 90011 (South Los Angeles), 75217 (Dallas), 77449 (Katy, TX), 90650 (Norwalk, CA), and 78521 (Brownsville, TX).

The pattern: large suburban or exurban ZIPs in fast-growing metros, plus a handful of dense urban ZIPs in the largest legacy cities.

• 79936 (El Paso, TX): ~113,000
• 11368 (Corona, NY): ~110,000
• 60629 (Chicago, IL): ~104,000
• 90011 (Los Angeles, CA): ~103,000
• 77449 (Katy, TX): ~96,000

What the largest ZIPs have in common

Three traits show up consistently. They tend to have a high foreign-born share (often 35%+). They tend to have larger-than-average household sizes (often 3.5+ vs national 2.5). And they tend to have lower-than-national median incomes — high-population ZIPs are heavily working-class.

The exception is the Texas exurbs (Katy, Frisco, McKinney) where population growth has been driven by middle-class family migration. Those ZIPs combine high population with above-average incomes — a pattern that didn't exist 20 years ago.