We often get asked how to run radius calculations in bulk.  For instance, if you'd like to know all ZIP Codes within a 10 mile radius of a list of ZIP Codes.  This information can be used in performing a nearest store report, optimizing a mailing list or other applications.  We've previously covered techniques for this as described in the blog post Get Radius Information for a List of ZIP Codes.

To help automate this further we've created a new template to manage the creation of these lists.  The free template is available to CDXZipStream users on our website who have the Lite Version of CDXZipStream or better.

Just enter your ZIP Code list in column B.  You can use the CDXZipList right-click function to generate a list of zip codes by city, state or county for this input.  Use the option to only return the zip code column.

Then specify a radius distance and press "Calculate".  Beginning in Column C, all ZIP Codes within that radius will be shown in individual cells.  A radius distance up to 200 miles can be specified. You can also choose to return both the zip code and distance by clicking the check box on the right of the screen. Options to use the U.S. or Canadian databases are also available.

We’ve continued to add to our portfolio of cloud based zip code tools.  A recent blog article discussed our web based Zip+4 Address Correction tool. This allows you to enter a list of addresses and returns a list of validated address with ZIP+4 information.  A new tool has been added to create a detailed demographics report for a list of zip codes. 

Just upload a list of zip codes in .csv text or .xlsx Excel format and this application will generate a comprehensive demographics report. The reports contain over 50 key demographic statistics including household income, population, median age and business employment. Most of the data is derived from the 2010 US Census.

To start, just visit our Zip Code Demographics Batch Report. 

You will need to place your address data in a Excel .xsls file or in a text csv file.  Only a single column is permitted.  More information on formatting your data is available on the site.  Use a file explorer option to upload your data or drag and drop your file into the indicated area.

Shortly after uploading your file you will be taken to a preview screen.  Here you can see the first few results of your input to make sure all is as expected.   The report includes all data fields included in our Free Demographics Tool  such as population, race and income statistics.  

 If you data isn’t returning correctly, an option to restart the process is available.

If you would like to process the entire report this can be purchased for .01 per address or by using your CDXStreamer account.  Use a CDXStreamer account if you intend to use the site multiple times or if you have a large number of requests where lower costs are available.

After purchasing a progress bar will appear as results are calculated. It may take several minutes for large files to process. When complete a download button will display allowing you to retrieve data in csv format.  Contact us at support@cdxtech.com if you have any issues downloading the data.

An example of an output data file can be downloaded here. You can analyze the example and other demographic lists created with this tool by downloading our free Demographic Report Template.

That’s all there is to it.   Three simple steps with no extra software to install on your system.  Please give this a try and let us know if you have any questions or feedback.

Need to find the demographic characteristics for your customers, a geographic area, or any ZIP Code list meaningful to your business or organization?

We now provide a free template that automatically retrieves ZIP Code geographic and demographic data using our Excel add-in CDXZipStream (Premium version).  It not only obtains the raw data for each ZIP Code in your list, but also creates charts of the aggregate data, providing a complete “demographic snapshot” of the ZIP Code list as a whole. This is a great tool for characterizing a specific customer population, for example, or a given geographic area around a store location.

The data is sourced from the latest 5-year aggregated period of the American Community Survey of the U.S. Census, and from the latest Business Census. You can select data from a variety of areas: geography (such as city, state, land area, etc.), age, economics, gender, household and housing data, and race and ethnicity. Demographic values are provided for each ZIP Code, and data for the entire data set are displayed in batch charts.

How to use: Just copy and paste your ZIP Code list into the template, select your area(s) of interest, and click on the “Get Data” button. The progress of the data retrieval is shown in the lower left hand area of the screen. After data retrieval is complete, view the batch demographic charts associated with the ZIP Code list by clicking the “View Charts” button, and then navigate to the worksheets that show the batch data for each selected area of interest. Batch charts are available for all demographic (but not geographic) areas.  Note that the charts are built from data retrieved in the “Batch Demographics” worksheet, so data retrieval must be completed first before viewing associated charts. You can print out the batch charts using the Excel print function.

You can also use the template in conjunction with CDXZipStream’s CDXRadius function. If you’d like to get demographic data for the ZIP codes around a store or other central location, use CDXRadius to identify all ZIP’s within the radius area, then just copy the list to the template and run.

Batch data values for each field are either additive or weighted. Additive fields, such as population, age groups, etc. are added together to form a total demographic picture of the ZIP Codes. In order to have meaningful batch values for fields such as median household income and average house value, these are instead weighted according to the number of ZIP Codes in the data set. Here’s an example of some additive and weighted charted batch data for economic demographics:

If no demographic data is associated with a ZIP Code, no data is returned. This may occur, for example, for invalid ZIP Codes or ZIP Codes that have no associated population, such as those found in business zones. Valid ZIP Codes that have no population data, however, do have geographic data that can be retrieved using the template.

This template is a free resource for CDXZipStream users. For an easy way to get batch demographics for a ZIP Code list, you can download the template from our website.

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Here’s a list of all the retrievable variables in the template:

Geography – City, County, State, Region, Land area, Water area, Latitude, Longitude, Elevation

Age – Median age, Median age (female), Median age (male), and Age groups by the following categories: Age under 5, Ages 5-9, Age 10-14, Age 15-19, Age 20-24, Age 25-29, Age 30-34, Age 35-39, Age 40-44, age 45-49, Age 50-54, Age 55-59, Age 60-64, Age 65-69, Age 70-74, Age 75-79, Age 80-84, Age 85-89, Age 90+

Economics – Median household income, Average house value, Housing units owned free and clear, Housing units owned with mortgage, Annual business payroll, Number of businesses, Number of employees

Gender - Male and Female populations

Households – Average household size, Family households, Non-family households, Total households, 1-person Households, 2-person Households, 3-person Households, 4-person Households, 5-person Households, 6-person Households, 7+ person Households

Housing – Total housing units, Housing units owned free and clear, Housing units owned with mortgage, Owner-occupied housing units, Renter-occupied housing units, 1-person Owner-occupied housing units, 2-person Owner-occupied housing units, 3-person Owner-occupied housing units, 4-person Owner-occupied housing units, 5-person Owner-occupied housing units, 6-person Owner-occupied housing units, 7+ person Owner-occupied housing units, 15-24 years Owner-occupied Housing units, 25-34 years Owner-occupied housing units, 35-44 years Owner-occupied housing units, 45-54 years Owner-occupied housing units, 55-64 years Owner-occupied housing units, 65+ years Owner-occupied housing units, 1-person Renter-occupied housing units, 2-person Renter-occupied housing units, 3-person Renter-occupied housing units, 4-person Renter-occupied housing units, 5-person Renter-occupied housing units, 6-person Renter-occupied housing units, 7+ person Renter-occupied housing units, 15-24 years Renter-occupied Housing units, 25-34 years Renter-occupied housing units, 35-44 years Renter-occupied housing units, 45-54 years Renter-occupied housing units, 55-64 years Renter-occupied housing units, 65+ years Renter-occupied housing units,

Race and Ethnicity – American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, Some other race, Two or more races, White, Hispanic population, Non-Hispanic population

We’ve had the ability for quite a while to perform Zip+4 address correction in Windows versions of Microsoft Excel with our CDXStreamer add-in.  But unfortunately compatible versions of Excel aren’t available on Apple or Linux systems.  Now with the introduction of our cloud based tool users on all platforms can access these advanced capabilities.

To start, just visit our bulk address correction tool. 

You will need to place your address data in a Excel .xsls file or in a text csv file.  Both single column and multiple column inputs are allowed.  More information on formatting your data is available on the site.  Use a file explorer option to upload your data or drag and drop your file into the indicated area.

Shortly after uploading your file you will be taken to a preview screen.  Here you can see the first 25 results of your input to make sure all is as expected.   The report includes all data fields included in our CDXStreamer product including the corrected address, zip code, zip+4, county, state and DPBC.  

If you data isn’t returning correctly, an option to restart the process is available.

If you would like to process the entire report this can be purchased for .01 per address or by using your CDXStreamer account.  Use a CDXStreamer account if you intend to use the site multiple times or if you have a large number of requests where lower costs are available. Each address is checked via a USPS database.  If an address can’t be found or isn’t deliverable a message “Unknown or Invalid Address” will appear.  You can check any results at the USPS Zip Code Lookup site.

After purchasing a progress bar will appear as results are calculated. It may take several minutes for large files to process. When complete a download button will display allowing you to retrieve data in csv format.

That’s all it takes.  Three simple steps with no extra software to install on your system.  We hope you will give it a try.

We thought it would be a good time to review the product alternatives we have available for Zip Code lookup and Address Correction.  Which product you choose depends on the data you need and also the number of reports/requests you expect to do.

1. Online Tools - If you would like to sample our data we have free online tools available. For a sample of the items available for each U.S. Zip Code give a try to our web based Zip Code Lookup Tool.  Additional information is available by using our Free Demographic Report by Zip Code  To validate mailing info use our Free Address Correction and Zip Code Lookup app. All of these reports are free but you are limited to one request at a time.
2. CDXZipStream - CDXZipStream is a Windows based Excel add-in that can produce bulk zip code reports with greater coverage of demographics than the online tools. It can also check for valid mailing locations using Bing or Mappoint but can only supply zip codes, not Zip+4 data.  It is a one-time license purchase and no additional charges are made per request for any reports created with the local US or Canadian database.  For requests using Bing a free API key is available from Microsoft for up to 125,000 requests.  Bing can also provide coverage for countries other than the US and Canada.  A link showing Bing’s international coverage can be found here.
3. CDXStreamer – If you need validated addresses with Zip+4 data checked against USPS data you would need to use CDXStreamer. The pricing of this service is charged per request. CDXStreamer is faster and more cost effective than other solutions if you need USPS checked data.  It also support a variety of additional information for each Zip+4.  CDXStreamer will only work in Excel for Windows and only support US data.
4. CDXGeodata – CDXGeodata is a set of web service APIs and apps that work with software platforms including Windows, the Apple Mac and Linux.  It supports many of the feature available in CDXZipStream and CDXStreamer. We’ve designed this product so it can be used by standard business professionals as well as programmers to develop custom desktop or web based applications. Its pricing model is per request, not per user.  This makes it ideal for distributed applications to a large group of people or on non-Windows computers.  
5. Microsoft Windows Store and Excel apps - CDX Technologies offers a suite of apps that can be downloaded for free in the online Microsoft Store.   Three Windows apps have been released including Postal Address and Zip+4 lookup, Zip Code Report, and Demographic Report  These apps match the applications that are also available on our web site under the “Tools” menu.  We’ve also recently released two spreadsheet applications in the Office store. This includes the Geodata Address Verification add-in and Zip Code Report app. These products are useful when you just have a few reports to create. There is no charge to use these services.

We will also be looking to expand our online offering to support bulk processing of requests.  Any feedback or suggestion of future products is always appreciated.