How can I get all residential addresses in a single town?

October 30, 2009 12:44 PM

How can I get lists of all residential mailing addresses for a single town in the USA?

I have a project that will require a one-time mass mailing to every resident in a single, very small (population < 500), town in the United States. How can I get a listing of every residential address in the town of interest?

Bonus points if it's free! Half-points and a congratulatory thumbs-up if it's cheap.

Thanks.

posted by crapples to grab bag (10 comments total)

Iowa voting lists (PDF). Not free, but not bad.
posted by desjardins at 1:18 PM on October 30

Oh. Nevermind.

Information from voter registration records can only be used:
 To request a registrant’s vote at an election,
 For a genuine political purpose,
 For bona fide political research, or
 For a bona fide official purpose by an elected official.
posted by desjardins at 1:19 PM on October 30

I don't have any resources to link, but I bet you could drive through a town that small and take down all the addresses manually. Only 500 people? You could probably do it all in a weekend or two. Just pretend you're with Google Maps and call it a field trip. It's probably safe to assume all the addresses are in the same ZIP code.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 1:26 PM on October 30

With residents' names? (That's difficult.) Or just to "occupant"? (That's easier.)

In a town that small you may be able to just go to the town clerk's office or get assessor's records. Or you can find someone locally that already has the list and rent it (try the nearest weekly newspaper).

Failing those options you need to buy a list. I have dealt in the past with MelissaData, which is good, but if you Google "residential mailing list" you'll find other options. From MelissaData, you can get records for any zip code including owner/renter name at a pretty reasonable price.
posted by beagle at 1:30 PM on October 30

I don't necessarily need names. So, beagle, when you say it would be easier to "occupant", how so? Is that what I could get from the assessor's?
posted by crapples at 2:11 PM on October 30

I've received mail addressed to 'Postal Patron' with no street address of any kind. The PO just delivers the piece to every one of its route customers, apparently. You might check with your local PO for more information on that.
posted by DandyRandy at 2:23 PM on October 30

Try carrier routes on MelissaData. You'll have to compile the data by hand, but from the carrier routes search you can get a list of all postal addresses in a given zip code.
posted by thirteenkiller at 2:30 PM on October 30

13killer is correct, and I've done this: if you don't need names and everyone is on RFD's, RRs or PO boxes, which you can figure out at MelissaData, you can create your own very generic list. In a bulk mailing you don't need to address to individual box numbers, you can just package up, say 200 pieces labeled Postal Customer, RR1, Somewhere, State, Zip. Check all the postal rules though. But if this is a survey and you want to response, I'd say buy the individual names and addresses and use that. If the zipcode has Carrier Routes (different from RR, RFD or PO), then you must address individually anyway.
posted by beagle at 3:49 PM on October 30

Try the school district. They often have a list of every address. They might have to give it out as a public record. File a FOIL request for it.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 5:22 PM on October 30

Does your library have Cole's Cross Reference Directory? One of the volumes lists all the residential addresses for each town in a metropolitan area.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 7:07 PM on October 30