Loire-Atlantique postal codes — Pays de la Loire, France

Loire-Atlantique (département 44) is one of the départements of the Pays de la Loire région. Its towns include Nantes, Chateaubriant-Ancenis and Saint-Nazaire, 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-Atlantique is a département within the Pays de la Loire région, and is itself divided into communes — the towns and villages whose postal codes are listed above.

How postal codes work in Loire-Atlantique

French postal codes are five digits long, written as a single block with no space (for example, 44170). 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-Atlantique begins with 44.

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-Atlantique 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
44170 ABBARETZ

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.