Loire postal codes — Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, France

Loire (département 42) is one of the départements of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes région. Its towns include Montbrison, Roanne and Saint-Etienne, each surrounded by the communes whose postal codes are listed above.

Administrative structure

France is organised into three administrative levels: the région, the département, and the commune. Loire is a département within the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes région, and is itself divided into communes — the towns and villages whose postal codes are listed above.

How postal codes work in Loire

French postal codes are five digits long, written as a single block with no space (for example, 42380). The code reads from left to right, moving from the département down to the local delivery area.

The first two digits identify the département, so every postal code in Loire begins with 42.

The remaining three digits narrow the code down within the département. They identify the delivering post office or commune, and in larger towns a specific delivery zone; they do not reproduce the commune's official INSEE code, even where the two look similar.

Some codes are reserved for CEDEX (Courrier d'Entreprise à Distribution EXceptionnelle) service. A CEDEX code is assigned to a business, administration, or other recipient that receives high volumes of mail, and it routes post through a dedicated handling arrangement rather than a standard geographic round. CEDEX appears after the town name in the address, sometimes with a number identifying the specific account.

Addressing format

A correctly formatted address in Loire places the postal code before the town name, on the same line, with the town name in capital letters. For example:

Recipient name
Street and number
42380 ABOEN

The postal code and town share the final line, postal code first, town in uppercase. A CEDEX designation, where it applies, is added after the town name.