FedEx has no single national zone table either. It issues a zone locator per block of origin ZIP codes, and the documents say so on the front page: shipping with FedEx distance-based rates is easy with this zone locator specially customized to your origin location (per fedex.com zone locators pulled 2026-07-28). Inside the contiguous United States one zone column serves both the Express and the Ground families, and outside it the two part company.
It hands you a zone. The rate table turns that zone into money, and a live quote does both at once.
Three steps, printed on the document itself. We pulled two locators, for origin blocks 18400-18799 and 46000-46299, on 2026-07-28 and both carry the identical wording.
Two footnotes on those documents matter more than the table above them. The first: zones differ for FedEx Express and FedEx Ground services outside the contiguous U.S. That is why the Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico block prints two separate columns headed FedEx Express zone and FedEx Ground zone, while the lower-48 block prints one. The second: FedEx reserves the right to modify its services and zone structure without notice. Both copies we pulled print an effective date of January 3, 2022, so a locator is a stable document rather than a monthly one, but the rate tables it points into are not.
One carton, one origin, eight destinations, quoted the same morning. This is the zone structure with dollars attached instead of letters.
| Destination | FedEx Ground Economy | Window returned |
|---|---|---|
| Hoboken, NJ 07030 | $11.42 | 2-3 business days |
| Philadelphia, PA 19102 | $11.42 | 2-3 business days |
| Atlanta, GA 30303 | $14.31 | 6-7 business days |
| Chicago, IL 60601 | no FedEx row among the five rates returned | not applicable |
| Dallas, TX 75201 | $16.22 | 6-7 business days |
| Denver, CO 80202 | $17.52 | 6-7 business days |
| Los Angeles, CA 90011 | $20.50 | 7-8 business days |
| Seattle, WA 98101 | $20.50 | 8-9 business days |
The Chicago quote came back with five rates and not one of them was FedEx, which is a normal outcome and a good reason to compare carriers per lane rather than picking a favourite. Los Angeles and Seattle matched exactly at $20.50 while their windows differed by a day, and the two nearby destinations matched at $11.42. Ring pricing, visible without a map.
The FedEx rate tools page asks you to enter your origin ZIP code and then offers a United States domestic zone chart or an international one. It also notes that you will need to know FedEx zones to interpret rate sheet information, which is the whole reason the locator exists.
A locator gets you one number. Turning that number into a price still needs the weight and the service, and the same zone costs very different amounts across the FedEx service range.
FedEx publishes a residential delivery charge of $6.95 for 2026 and a delivery area surcharge of $6.60 residential or $8.80 extended residential, none of which appear anywhere on a zone locator. A live quote is where they show up.
Request the zone locator for your origin ZIP block from the FedEx rate tools page, then find your recipient's ZIP code in the list using either the first three digits or the full ZIP code, whichever is shown, and read across to the zone.
Inside the contiguous United States the locator prints a single zone column that serves both. Outside it they diverge, and the locator says so plainly, printing separate FedEx Express zone and FedEx Ground zone columns for Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
No. Each locator is built for a block of origin ZIP codes and is described on the document as specially customized to your origin location, so a chart from another block will send you to the wrong row.
On 2026-07-28 from Newark with a 12 x 10 x 6 in carton at 5 lb, FedEx Ground Economy ran from $11.42 to nearby destinations up to $20.50 for Los Angeles and Seattle. The Chicago quote returned five rates with no FedEx row among them.