Querying metro-area zip codes

Jenna Sauber

I've noticed some posts about querying zip codes in a metro area to include in a group for email targeting, but the answers don't quite seem to fit our needs. What we need: To be able to create a group that queries all the zip codes in a city area so that it's not only targeting people that have the city name in their record, but to include suburbs, etc.

E.g.: Atlanta: we want all Atlanta supporters as well as its surrounding zip codes.

The answers I've seen seem to have some loopholes regarding sequential and non-sequential zip codes, and appear to be complex. Does anyone have an easy way of making this work?

Roberta Klein

Hi,

We abandoned the zip code approach and use the Congressional districts for the metro area we are targeting. The hardest part is finding the district maps for the location. I usually just google "congressional district maps". The query is pretty simple - State = xx AND (Congress district = n, OR n, OR nn ) as many times as you need it. I hope that helps.

robertae

Sally Heaven

Roberta Klein:

Hi,

We abandoned the zip code approach and use the Congressional districts for the metro area we are targeting. The hardest part is finding the district maps for the location. I usually just google "congressional district maps". The query is pretty simple - State = xx AND (Congress district = n, OR n, OR nn ) as many times as you need it. I hope that helps.

robertae

I always found the Congressional Yellow Book a useful tool for finding the district maps.

Also, since some congressional districts can be pretty gerrymandered, you can use county-based targeting when more precision is required, such as for a city and its surrounding suburbs.

ZIP codes are more precise, of course, but for a metro area you can likely get what you want by using counties.