A USPS zone is a distance band between two ZIP codes, counted outward from wherever the parcel starts, which is why no single national zone map can exist. The lookup itself is simple: the first three digits of the destination ZIP code determine the zone for a given origin (per postcalc.usps.com, checked 2026-07-28).
Anyone can print a rainbow of rings. The useful version puts a quoted dollar figure on each one.
A zone chart that prices one weight lets you assume the gap between the nearest and farthest lane holds steady at every other weight. It does not. We quoted the same lane at 1, 5, 20 and 50 lb from Newark, NJ 07102 to the same eight destinations on 2026-08-23, and both the size of the zone gap and the carrier that wins it change as the box gets heavier.
| Destination | 1 lb | 5 lb | 20 lb | 50 lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hoboken, NJ 07030 | $8.93 USPS Ground Advantage | $10.37 UPS Ground Saver | $14.83 USPS Ground Advantage | $26.39 UPS Ground |
| Philadelphia, PA 19102 | $9.01 USPS Ground Advantage | $10.37 UPS Ground Saver | $15.05 USPS Ground Advantage | $26.39 UPS Ground |
| Atlanta, GA 30303 | $9.91 USPS Ground Advantage | $13.52 UPS Ground Saver | $23.00 UPS Ground Saver | $47.42 UPS Ground |
| Chicago, IL 60601 | $9.91 USPS Ground Advantage | $13.52 UPS Ground Saver | $23.00 UPS Ground Saver | $47.42 UPS Ground |
| Dallas, TX 75201 | $10.09 USPS Ground Advantage | $15.49 UPS Ground Saver | $26.71 FedEx Ground Economy | $59.74 UPS Ground |
| Denver, CO 80202 | $10.29 USPS Ground Advantage | $16.47 UPS Ground Saver | $31.43 UPS Ground Saver | $71.42 UPS Ground |
| Los Angeles, CA 90011 | $11.12 USPS Ground Advantage | $19.14 UPS Ground Saver | $36.63 FedEx Ground Economy | $80.12 UPS Ground |
| Seattle, WA 98101 | $11.12 USPS Ground Advantage | $19.14 UPS Ground Saver | $36.63 FedEx Ground Economy | $80.12 UPS Ground |
Two things show up that a single-weight chart hides. First, the eight-lane spread is not a flat add-on: it is a couple of dollars wide at 1 lb and tens of dollars wide at 50 lb, because the per-pound piece of the rate climbs with distance, not just the flat per-parcel piece of it. Second, USPS Ground Advantage is cheapest on every one of the eight lanes at 1 lb, but at 50 lb no USPS row made the five-rate shortlist on any of the eight lanes in this grid, leaving UPS and FedEx to price it, and UPS Ground won all eight. FedEx has the mirror gap: no FedEx row came back at 1 lb on any of the eight lanes, and it appears from 5 lb up. At 20 lb, in between those two extremes, the cheapest carrier itself changes with distance — USPS Ground Advantage on Hoboken and Philadelphia, UPS Ground Saver on Atlanta, Chicago and Denver, FedEx Ground Economy (FedEx's current name for the service once called SmartPost) on Dallas, Los Angeles and Seattle. The cheapest column is not the whole story either: on the Los Angeles and Seattle lane at 50 lb, the same five-rate return also included UPS 3 Day Select at $142.70, more than five times what UPS Ground charged for the short hop to Hoboken.
The Postal Service defines its zones as radii measured out from the origin. The wording below is drawn from the archived Domestic Mail Manual section on postal zones, which is where the mile ranges are spelled out in full.
| Zone | How far it reaches |
|---|---|
| Local | Mail deposited at a post office for delivery inside that office's own delivery area |
| 1 | Outside the local zone, within a radius of about 50 miles |
| 2 | Outside zone 1, within a radius of about 150 miles |
| 3 | Outside zone 2, within a radius of about 300 miles |
| 4 | Outside zone 3, within a radius of about 600 miles |
| 5 | Outside zone 4, within a radius of about 1,000 miles |
| 6 | Outside zone 5, within a radius of about 1,400 miles |
| 7 | Outside zone 6, within a radius of about 1,800 miles |
| 8 | Everything outside zone 7 |
Two things follow from that structure. Zones belong to the sender, so your ZIP is zone 1 to itself and zone 8 to someone three time zones away, while their chart reads the other way round. And the bands widen as they go out, which is why two cities hundreds of miles apart can share a zone and price identically.
We took a single 12 x 10 x 6 in carton holding 5 lb of household goods and quoted it from Newark, NJ 07102 to eight destinations on 2026-08-21. Nothing about the parcel changed between quotes. Only the ring it was aimed at.
| Destination | USPS Ground Advantage | Window returned | Cheapest of the five rates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hoboken, NJ 07030 | $10.43 | 6-7 business days | $10.37 |
| Philadelphia, PA 19102 | no Ground Advantage row returned | not applicable | $10.37 |
| Atlanta, GA 30303 | $14.02 | 6-7 business days | $13.52 |
| Chicago, IL 60601 | $14.02 | 9-10 business days | $13.52 |
| Dallas, TX 75201 | $16.00 | 6-7 business days | $15.49 |
| Denver, CO 80202 | $16.97 | 6-7 business days | $16.47 |
| Los Angeles, CA 90011 | $19.64 | 6-7 business days | $19.14 |
| Seattle, WA 98101 | $19.64 | 6-7 business days | $19.14 |
Read down the last column and the ring structure appears without anyone drawing it. Hoboken is just across the river from Newark and Philadelphia is a long way down the turnpike, yet both landed on $10.37, because a band does not price the difference inside itself. Los Angeles and Seattle sit at opposite ends of the west coast and both landed on $19.14, the top of the range for this carton on this run.
Our quotes show what a shipper pays. The published price list shows what the zone alone is doing, with everything else held still, so the two views are worth putting next to each other.
| Zone | Retail | Commercial |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $12.95 | $9.70 |
| 2 | $13.55 | $9.76 |
| 3 | $14.55 | $10.14 |
| 4 | $15.80 | $11.02 |
| 5 | $17.45 | $13.48 |
| 6 | $19.60 | $15.89 |
| 7 | $22.40 | $17.12 |
| 8 | $26.05 | $19.19 |
The full sweep from zone 1 to zone 8 on a 5 lb parcel runs $12.95 to $26.05 at retail. Now hold the weight at 5 lb and change only the carton: our 2026-08-21 quotes moved a UPS Ground price from $14.05 to $38.66 by going from a 12 x 10 x 6 in box to a 24 x 18 x 14 in one, on a single lane. A bigger box beat the entire width of the country by a comfortable margin, which is the thing zone maps never show you.
Any zone table you find online belongs to whoever generated it. Ask which ZIP prefix it was built from before trusting a row, because the same destination sits in a different band for a sender two states away.
The local zone is defined by a post office delivery area rather than by miles, so it can be geographically small in a dense city and surprisingly wide in a rural one.
Our Chicago quote returned a 9-10 business day window while Los Angeles, nearly three times the distance, returned 6-7, on the same box on the same morning. Zones price the lane. They do not schedule it.
Use the USPS Domestic Zone Chart tool with your origin and the destination. The rule it applies is that the first three digits of the destination ZIP code determine the zone, so a chart is only valid for the origin it was generated from.
The archived Domestic Mail Manual sets zone 1 at about 50 miles from the origin, zone 2 at about 150, zone 3 at about 300, zone 4 at about 600, zone 5 at about 1,000, zone 6 at about 1,400 and zone 7 at about 1,800, with zone 8 covering everything beyond that.
On the published Ground Advantage list for prices effective July 12, 2026, a 5 lb parcel runs $12.95 in zone 1 and $26.05 in zone 8 at retail. Our live quotes on 2026-08-21 ran from $10.37 to $19.14 between the nearest and furthest destinations for the same carton.
Because zones are bands, not points. Hoboken and Philadelphia both came back at $10.37 from Newark on 2026-08-21, and Los Angeles and Seattle both came back at $19.14, since each pair falls inside the same ring.
No, it grows with the box. In our 2026-08-23 grid from Newark, NJ 07102, the cheapest quote widened from $8.93 at Hoboken to $11.12 at Los Angeles and Seattle at 1 lb, from $10.37 to $19.14 at 5 lb, from $14.83 to $36.63 at 20 lb, and from $26.39 to $80.12 at 50 lb. The same eight-zone spread costs far more once the box is heavy.
Not in this grid. Each quote returns the five cheapest rates found, and at 50 lb no USPS row made that shortlist on any of the eight lanes, leaving UPS and FedEx to price it; UPS Ground was the cheapest of the two on every lane, from $26.39 to Hoboken and Philadelphia up to $80.12 to Los Angeles and Seattle. FedEx has the opposite gap: no FedEx row came back at 1 lb on any lane, and it appears from 5 lb up as FedEx Ground Economy, its current name for the service once called SmartPost.
No, it moves with distance too. At 20 lb in our 2026-08-23 grid, USPS Ground Advantage was cheapest to the two nearest zones — $14.83 to Hoboken, $15.05 to Philadelphia. UPS Ground Saver won Atlanta and Chicago at $23.00 and Denver at $31.43. FedEx Ground Economy won Dallas at $26.71 and Los Angeles and Seattle at $36.63. Same weight, three different cheapest carriers.