streetaddress

A street address is a standardized description of a location used to deliver mail, goods, and services and to pinpoint a building or parcel on a street grid. It typically identifies the building or property and, when present, the unit, apartment, or floor, along with the locality necessary for routing. A street address usually comprises a building or house number, a street name, and additional local elements such as a unit or apartment identifier, followed by a city or town, a subnational division (such as a state, province, or county), a postal code, and a country.

Addresses vary by country in format and components. In many systems, street addresses are distinct from mailing addresses; a mailing address can differ if mail is delivered to a PO box or a centralized mailbox. The ordering of elements and the use of postal codes differ widely; for example, in the United States the typical order is building number and street name, followed by city, state, and ZIP code, whereas other countries place the postal code earlier or use different locality fields.

In digital and logistical contexts, street addresses are used for shipping, navigation, and geocoding. International addressing relies on guidelines from organizations such as the Universal Postal Union, and many software systems implement address validation and normalization to cope with local formats and multilingual data.

Challenges include ambiguous or duplicate street names, changes due to urban development, and privacy considerations when handling addresses in databases. Street addresses remain a fundamental element of commerce, public services, and emergency response, linking physical location to identity and access.