List of postal codes in Canada
Postal codes were introduced in Canada in the early 1970s with the advent of automated sorting, and replaced postal zones in large cities. Like British postcodes, Canada's postal codes are alphanumeric. Most other postal and zip code systems use only numbers.
The first letter is for a province or a region, generally in order from east to west: The next two characters represent a rural district, a city, or a section of a major metropolitan area, and the remaining characters represent an entire small town, a single large building (or part of a very large one), a single (large) institution such as a university or hospital, or one side of a city block. The latter in urban areas may be a specific postal carrier's route. In rural areas where direct door-to-door delivery is not available, a postal code describes a set of post office boxes or a rural route.
Provinces and Territories
Canada's provinces and territories each have their own two-letter abbreviation, which comes before the postal code:
*Although NU has been designated for Nunavut, the abbreviation NT is still often used.
Forward Sortation Areas
The following is a list of postal code Forward Sortation Areas (or FSAs) in Canada. See Canada Post for more details.
Santa Claus
Canada Post uses a special postal code for delivering mail to Santa Claus every Christmas, and mail can be addressed to:
Santa Claus
North Pole H0H 0H0
CANADA
H0H 0H0 is 'Ho, ho, ho!'
While the geographic North Pole is not located in Canada per se, the boundaries of Canada extend northward to it and converge at it.
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