Australian Postal Codes

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Download Free Database of Australian Postcodes

Last Updated: March 17th 2024 (Latest Updates)

A free, up-to-date downloadable database of Australian Postcodes and Localities, including longitude and latitude values, sourced by and supported by myself and the community.

Download Links Below

Looking for other data sets? World City Data   New Zealand Postcodes

History

Some years ago, Australia Post used to publish a full list of Australian Postal Codes including state and location data, in a raw data format, completely free.

They have since stopped doing this, instead preferring to charge for data that is arguably public domain, or at least available publicly in many different forms from many different providers.

I've needed this data for a number of projects over the years, and have collated as much publicly-available postal data as I could find. There are a bunch of files out on the internet with this data, but they are all missing data or detail, so I've tried to collate them as best I can.

You can learn more about Australian Postcodes on Wikipedia.

Current Statistics

The database currently contains 18,545 entries, spread over the following states:

State Full Name Total Entries Range Details
ACT Australian Capital Territory 170 0200 to 2914 View All
NSW New South Wales 5601 1001 to 4385 View All
NT Northern Territory 410 0800 to 4825 View All
QLD Queensland 3971 2406 to 9726 View All
SA South Australia 2097 0872 to 5950 View All
TAS Tasmania 813 7000 to 7470 View All
VIC Victoria 3541 3000 to 9999 View All
WA Western Australia 1942 0872 to 6997 View All

1 Many large businesses, government departments and other institutions receiving high volumes of mail had their own postcode as a Large Volume Receiver (LVR), e.g. the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital has the postcode 4029, the Australian National University had the postcode 0200. More postcode ranges were made available for LVRs in the 1990s. Australia Post has been progressively discontinuing the LVR programme since 2006.

Postcode Ranges

The following are prescribed number ranges for Australian Post Codes, as defined by Australia Post.

State/Territory Abbreviation Postcode range
New South Wales NSW 1000—1999 (LVRs and PO Boxes only)
2000—2599
2619—2899
2921—2999
Australian Capital Territory ACT 0200—0299 (LVRs and PO Boxes only)
2600—2618
2900—2920
Victoria VIC 3000—3999
8000—8999 (LVRs and PO Boxes only)
Queensland QLD 4000—4999
9000—9999 (LVRs and PO Boxes only)
South Australia SA 5000—5799
5800—5999 (LVRs and PO Boxes only)
Western Australia WA 6000—6797
6800—6999 (LVRs and PO Boxes only)
Tasmania TAS 7000—7799
7800—7999 (LVRs and PO Boxes only)
Northern Territory NT 0800—0899
0900—0999 (LVRs and PO Boxes only)

Data Fields

The files have many data fields, including those below. Additional fields are added from time to time.

Field Description Example Updated
id Primary Key from source database 1 Regularly
postcode The postcode in numerical format - 0000 to 9999 3000 Regularly
locality The locality of the postcode - typically the city/suburb or postal distribution centre Melbourne Regularly
state The Australian state in which the locality is situated VIC Regularly
long The longitude of the locality - defaults to 0 when not available 144.956776 Regularly
lat The latitude of the locality - defaults to 0 when not available -37.817403 Regularly
dc1 The Australia Post distribution Centre servicing this postcode - defaults to blank when not available MELBOURNE Infrequently
type1 The type of locality, such as a delivery area, post office or a "Large Volume Recipient" such as a GPO, defaults to blank when not available LVR Regularly
SA3 The SA3 Statistical Area code 215 Adhoc
SA3 Name The name of the SA3 Statistical Area North West Adhoc
SA4 The SA4 Statistical Area code 21501 Adhoc
SA4 Name The name of the SA4 Statistical Area Grampians Adhoc
Region Designated Regional Area R1
status A note indicating whether the data is new, removed or updated - new column Nov 2018 Updated Regularly
CED The Commonwealth Electroal Division Berowra Automated
Altitude Altitude/Elevation (meters) 9.15 Automated
Charge Zone Australia Post Charge Zones N1 Manual
PHN Code Primary Health Network Code PHN701 Manual
PHN Code Primary Health Network Name Northern Territory Manual
Lat GoogleLatitude from Google Maps API
Long GoogleLongitude from Google Maps API
SA1 Code 2021Statistical Area 1 2011 Code
SA1 Name 2021Statistical Area 1 2021 Name
SA2 Code 2021Statistical Area 2 2021 Code
SA2 Name 2021Statistical Area 2 2021 Name
SA3 Code 2021Statistical Area 3 2021 Code
SA3 Name 2021Statistical Area 3 2021 Name
SA4 Code 2021Statistical Area 4 2021 Code
SA4 Name 2021Statistical Area 4 2021 Name
RA 2011Remoteness Area - 2011 Dataset
RA 2016Remoteness Area - 2016 Dataset
MMM 2016Modified Monash Model - 2016 Dataset
MMM 2019Modified Monash Model - 2019 Dataset
LGA Region Local Government Area Palmerston Manual
Electorate Federal Government Electorate Casey Manual
Electorate Rating Federal Government Demographic Rating Inner Metropolitan Manual
State Electoral Division State Government Electoral Areas 30051 Adhoc
State Electoral Division name State Government Electoral Areas Maryborough Adhoc

1 These fields are no longer being updated, as the data isn't overly relevant outside of AusPost.

Note on Data Accuracy

Even in late 2022, I keep finding discrepencies between data the Australia Post provides, that GIS has and various LGA databases. Why? No idea, clearly our government agencies and organizations aren't communicating.

As such, this database cannot be regarded as 100% accurate, and no warranties or guarantees of accuracy is provided. I do my best to check everything, as does everyone who contributes data, but it is an ever moving target.

Note on Latitudes & Longitudes

As of March 2021, there are now two sets of differing Lat/Long points for each postcode. The first are the points provided in the Australia Post database, and those derived from adjacent postcodes.

The second set, possibly more accurate, are derived from Googles Map API in 2020/2021. As Australia Post do not appear to have updates or added any new Lat/Long values in recent years, it is presumed the Google values are more accurate.

Note on Altitudes

Altitudes have been added for each postcode with a valid latitude and longitude. These altitudes are for the exact location of the lat/long point, and may represent the 'official' altitude for the city or suburb. For example, Melbourne CBD is a series of hills with various altitudes, but the altitude listed is for the exact point specified.

Altitudes values are expressed relative to local mean sea level (LMSL), in meters.

Addition of ABS Statistical Area 3 (SA3) and Statistical Area 4 (SA4) datasets

I've recently added SA3 and SA4 data sets to the postcode database. Nearly all postcodes have these values, however not all, so it can't be considered 100% accurate.

Also, the SA3/SA4 data set is from the 2021 census, so there might be some changes since. If anyone has a more recent database, please let me know!

You can learn more about SA3 and SA4 on the ABS site in the 1270.0.55.001 - Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) section.

Designated Regional Area Postcodes

I've added R1, R2 and R3 region codes based on GOV.AU data and Immigration categorization. It's not 100% accurate, as they exclude many postcodes, but is a good representation nonetheless.

More details at https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/working-in-australia/skill-occupation-list/regional-postcodes

Remoteness Area Designations

The Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) is a set of geographical data that can be analysed together for different purposes. The data are from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and other organisations.

The ASGS determines five levels of remoteness for areas under the Australian Statistical Geography Standard - Remoteness Area (ASGS-RA) structure.

More details at https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/health-workforce/health-workforce-classifications/australian-statistical-geography-standard-remoteness-area

Modified Monash Model

The Modified Monash Model (MMM) is how we define whether a location is a city, rural, remote or very remote.

The model measures remoteness and population size on a scale of Modified Monash (MM) category MM 1 to MM 7. MM 1 is a major city and MM 7 is very remote.

More details at https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/health-workforce/health-workforce-classifications/modified-monash-model

Use Cases

There are many, many potential uses for this database. Some of the projects and uses people have downloaded the database for include:

  • Having a complete list of current suburbs in Australia
  • Calculating distances between two Australian postcodes or two Australian suburbs
  • Grouping population and other statistical data by suburb or postcode
  • Mapping rainfall data to regions

Last Updates

March 17th 2024
  • Major update!
  • 32 new postcodes (2 NT, 15 NSW, 10 QLD, 3 WA, 1 VIC)
  • 29 Geocoding updates (lat/long)
  • Updating missing lat/long values
  • Updating area altitudes
  • Adding 2021 RA data (excludes PO Boxes, etc.)
  • Updates from Aidan W., Vincent M. (huge thanks!), Serge M., Adam C.
  • SA1/2/3/4 2021 values added - note postcodes often have multiple, only one is stored.
  • SA1/2/3/4 2011-2016 values removed - I still have them in the raw database, so if anyone needs them, let me know :)
  • Adding State Electoral Divisions
December 7th 2023
  • 6 new postcodes added
Jun 12th 2023
  • 433 new postcodes
  • Corrections from David Q
December 10th 2022
  • 83 new postcodes (inc 49 geocoded postcodes)
  • Corrections from Anthony B. (general fixes), Paul H. (region data)
  • Updating LGA data with 2021 LGA classifications & LGA Codes.
  • Other updates from James S, Steve V, Kelly S, Cathy O., Gary W and others
March 21st 2022 Updated to include Federal Election 2022 electorate published by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet at https://github.com/pmcau/AustralianElectorates
March 11th 2022 Fixing the export files with LGA Regions - some files had blank data, sorry about that!
February 15th 2022 Adding LGA Regions - Local Government Areas within Australia based on 2014 and 2021 datasets. There are gaps though.
January 23rd 2022 Major data update:
  • Adding Primary Health Network designations, thanks Michael R.
  • General data cleanups & fixes, Thanks Tony & Danny.
  • Updated postcodes and data, thanks Peter O. and Ed S.
  • DiemenDesign added my Github Repo to the Awesome Software Made by Australians list. Thanks!!!
  • Fixed some data transposition issues, thanks Simon S.
  • Removed duplicate postcodes in New Zealand database, thanks Chris T.
September 1st 2021 Adding Charge Zones, suggested by Paul J. Updating postcodes, thanks for Belle B.
August 28th 2021 Adding about 150 new Post Codes released by AusPost. Some are for new suburban PO Boxes. Also includes rural stations (farms) that now have their own Post Code. Note that new Post Codes do not have SA1-SA4 data at this time.
July 17th 2021 Minor Content updates and fixes from Github PRs
July 1st 2021 Altitudes added to the dataset. Thanks Alexandra L. for the suggestion!
June 1st 2021 Content updates. North Pole (!), SA3/SA4 updates. Thanks to Matthew & James
May 1st 2021 Minor tweaks. Adding Commonwealth Electoral Divisions (thanks Josh for the reminder!)
March 1st 2021
Major Update
Major update - new data provided by Gary W. (thank-you!!!!) including:
  • Additional Lat/Long values from Google
  • Statistical Area 1 (SA) - 2011 & 2016 datasets
  • Remoteness Area (RA) - 2011 and 2016 datasets
  • Modified Monash Model (MMM) - 2015 and 2019 datasets
A huge thanks to Gary for this data - an lot of work has gone into this, and the community is the better for it.
January 11th 2021 Additional postcodes, removing duplicates.
December 13th 2020 Minor conent tweaks
November 15th 2020 Content updates - Additional entries, a few cleanups. Thanks Peter B., Craig M., Mike H., Jafin, Garretcam, Mahdi K., Blair W., Pigdog and Garry L. There haven't been a lot of updates this year, possibly due to the pandemic.
May 16th 2020 Content updates - Adding region codes. Content updates from Michael & Matt.
April 30th 2020 Content updates - Minor fixes and town spelling updates.
March 25th 2020 Content updates - Adding missing Long/Lat values, some missing SA4/SA4 data, from AusPost database and API.
  • 54 New post code entries from AusPost
  • 48 Updated long/lat values
  • 23 Updated from AusPost
  • 462 Updates SA3 & SA4 classifications
February 7th 2020 Content updates - Adding SA3 and SA4 values, removing 233 duplicate postcodes, adding leading 0's to 3-digit postcodes for consistency. Thanks Israel, Michael and anon.
January 25th 2020 Content updates - minor data fixes from Tony, Ross and Michoel. Major update from Stuart. Thanks heaps!
January 19th 2020 Content updates - major data fixes from Alex and Cameron. Thanks!
August 26th 2019 Content updates - major data update from anonymous source. Includes 1723 new entries! Removed duplicate entries.
June 13th 2019 Content updates, data clean-up and a few minor corrections from the community.
May 27th 2019 Updates from the community and some data sent from Australia Post. Thanks guys!
January 28th 2019 Updates from the community, including specifically Chris. Thanks again!!
December 6th 2018 Updates from the community, including from Vincent, Pat & Chris. Thanks!!
November 23rd 2018 Updates from GIS source, client data and updates from the community. Thanks everyone!
  • Added 154 new entries!
  • Flagged 502 entries as no longer valid
August 7th 2018 Updates from the community, including from Steve, Pete & Others. Thanks guys!!
September 14th 2016 Initial public release in its current form.

Contribute on Github

Your Contributions

Any updates, corrections or additions to the dataset is greatly appreciated - this dataset is regarded as public domain - and can only continue to grow and improve with your help.

Help Support This Database

I make this information freely available, and use it for my own client projects and experiments. However, if you feel you'd like to help me out, a donation to the charity my wife and I run would be greatly appreciated! We work hard to provide education scholarships and healthcare services in Uganda (Africa), and any support is appreciated!

You can also support us by "buying us a coffee" using the link below, or learn more about what we do at windsofhope.org.au.

Important Notice: I make no absolutely no guarantees as to its accuracy, but please feel free to let me know of any fixes or updates you see.