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Can a zipcode contain more than one city. For example, it seems that Foster City, CA and San Mateo,CA both share the same zipcode: 94404.

i have a data dump that labelled "San Mateo" as a primary city, and "Foster City" as an 'acceptable city'. which is why I was confused...who determines San Mateo is a primary city.:p

i even noticed Google defaults to the 'primary city' of San Mateo when searching only for the zipcode 94404

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    It's not completely clear what you are asking. If you are asking whether a a zipcode can cover more than one city, the answer is yes. – fgregg Jun 20 at 3:33
  • yes i was asking is this valid, thanks. – Jeryl Cook Jun 20 at 12:21
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    gis.stackexchange.com/questions/53918/… gives a fuller answer here-- some zipcodes are in multiple states! – Barry Carter Jun 20 at 16:29
  • i have a data dump that labelled "San Mateo" as a primary city, and "Foster City" as an 'acceptable city'. which is why I was confused...who determines San Mateo is a primary city.:p – Jeryl Cook Jun 21 at 12:56
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Yes, a zipcode can cover more than one city. As Barry Carter said in a comment, a zipcode can even cross state boundaries.

I'm fairly sure that that "primary" and "acceptable city" are not official designations. I think the only real way to know the meaning of those definitions is to ask the publisher of the data you are using.

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