List of French postal codes
Postal codes were introduced in
France in
1972, when
La Poste introduced
automated sorting.
The
postal code (in
French,
code postal) consists of five digits, the first two digits being the number of the
département in
metropolitan France. The system is also used outside
Europe, in the
Overseas Departments and
Territories, but it is the first three digits that identify the
département or territory. The digits
00 are used for
Military addresses. The next two numbers indicate the
canton. All the cities or towns inside the same canton have the same postcode. A regular postcode always ends with a
0, with the notable exception of Paris, Lyon and Marseille - see below - and the Overseas Départements and Territories). A postcode not ending with a 0 indicates a special code, known as CEDEX (see below).
In
Paris, the last two digits of the postal code indicate the
arrondissement. Prior to 1972, an address in the eighth
arrondissement in Paris, would be written as:
8, Rue Chambiges Paris 8e
This number was incorporated into the postal code as:
8, Rue Chambiges 750
08 Paris
An exception to this rule is the
XVIe arrondissement, which has two postal codes, 75016 (south) and 75116 (north).
Outside of Paris, the cities of
Lyon and
Marseille are also divided into
arrondissements, which are part of the postal code:
11 rue Duhamel 69002 Lyon
2 avenue du Maréchal Foch 13004 Marseille
In each
département, the
préfecture (main city) has a postal code ending with
000, for example
Ajaccio in
Corsica:
15 avenue du Général Leclerc 20000 Ajaccio
The bigger the city, the simpler the postal code. The
sous-préfectures are recognized by using a
XXX00 postcode. Here is for example the postal code of a small village,
Lépaud in
Creuse:
16 grande rue 23170 Lépaud
And the postal code of Mortagne-au-Perche,
sous-préfecture of the Département de l'
Orne:
4 rue des Quinze Fusillés 61400 Mortagne-au-Perche
Overseas Départements and Territories use 3-digit codes starting with 97 or 98, the last of which identifies the correct territory. For instance, 971 is
Guadeloupe. In this case, the last digit is dropped so as to keep the 5-digit format. This is why the regular postcodes for these don't end with 0 except for the
préfecture or
sous-préfecture, for example :
Maison du Port 97100 Basse-Terre
4 boulevard du Général de Gaulle 97320 Saint-Laurent du Maroni
193 RN2
97439 Sainte-Rose
There is also a system known as CEDEX,
Courrier d'Entreprise à Distribution eXceptionnelle, designed for recipients of large volumes of mail. A postal code is allocated to each large organisation or to post office box holders, ending in three unique digits, for example:
2 place Jussieu 75251 Paris Cedex 05
The '05' is for the
Ve arrondissement. Ordinary deliveries would be addressed to:
2 place Jussieu 75005 Paris
It is also acceptable to include a
boîte postale (post office box) number as well as the street address in CEDEX addresses.
The French postal code system is also used in
Monaco, where the postal code is prefixed with 'MC', not with 'F' for France:
12 avenue de la Costa
MC-98000 Monaco
MONACO
23, Avenue Prince Héréditaire Albert
MC-98025 Monaco Cedex
MONACO
*
Lists of postal codes*
Département in France*
Guide to French postal codes*
Identifying CEDEX codes (in French)*
Postal Services in France - at Discover France (English)
