Zip or Postal Codes

By default, the project contains zip codes for the entire United States in src/main/resources/geography/zipcodes.csv which has been post-processed from publicly available files.

You can modify the zip codes file or have Synthea use an alternative zip code file by altering the src/main/resources/synthea.properties file:

# default zip codes for every city in the US
generate.geography.zipcodes.default_file = geography/zipcodes.csv

If you modify or replace the demographics file and add new cities, then you will also need to modify or replace the zip codes file with those new cities.

If you add new cities, you'll probably have to add the appropriate Provider locations near the appropriate latitudes and longitudes.

You may also want to change patient names to be more appropriate for another area (e.g. not so North American). If so, you'll also need to modify or replace the Names file.

Zip File Format

The zip code file is a CSV file, with one row for each postal code -- therefore, a city can potentially have multiple rows.

Column Header	Description
	The first column has no header. It is the number of the city. The program ignores this column.
USPS	State Name (or possibly a County or Province in a non-US area)
ST	State Abbreviation
NAME	City Name
ZCTA5	Zip Code or Postal Code
LAT	Latitude
LON	Longitude

Synthea uses LAT and LON to determine nearby Provider facilities where patients can receive care.

Examples for Other Areas

These are incomplete partial examples for illustration purposes.

Abridged Example for United Kingdom

Districting and addresses in the United Kingdom differ from the United States. In this example, we assume a region such as the West Midlands is equivalent to a State.

,USPS,ST,NAME,ZCTA5,LAT,LON
0,West Midlands,WMS,Shrewsbury,SY1,52.7081,-2.7549
1,West Midlands,WMS,Shrewsbury,SY2,52.7083,-2.7546
2,West Midlands,WMS,Shrewsbury,SY3,52.7089,-2.7543