About mylocationis.com
What this site does, which Census data it uses, how the lookups run in your browser, and what they cannot promise.
mylocationis.com answers one kind of question: what is true about the place where you are right now. It gives your coordinates, county, city or town, state and ZIP area, and it has separate pages for elevation, speed, ZIP-to-county lookups. It is edited by the mylocationis.com editors. We have not published names or credentials for the editors, and we do not make any up.
How the lookups work
When you press a button, your browser asks your permission and then reports a position and an accuracy value. The page compares that position with Census Bureau boundary data inside your browser. The privacy page says exactly what leaves your device. Each tool page has a "How this is calculated" section with the steps and a "Where the figures come from" list with the sources and the date we checked them.
Data and credits
All boundary and lookup data on this site comes from the U.S. Census Bureau. Census Bureau data is a work of the US Government and is in the public domain. Source: U.S. Census Bureau. This site is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.
| Dataset | Used for | Licence |
|---|---|---|
| Cartographic Boundary Files 2024, county and equivalent, 1:500,000 (cb_2024_us_county_500k) | County lookup | US Government work, public domain |
| Cartographic Boundary Files 2024, state and equivalent, 1:500,000 (cb_2024_us_state_500k) | State lookup | US Government work, public domain |
| Cartographic Boundary Files 2024, places, 1:500,000 (cb_2024_us_place_500k) | City or town lookup | US Government work, public domain |
| 2020 ZCTA to county relationship file (tab20_zcta520_county20_natl) | ZIP to county lookup, county check for ZIP results | US Government work, public domain |
| 2020 Gazetteer file, ZCTA (2020_Gaz_zcta_national) | Nearest ZIP area centre | US Government work, public domain |
We processed these files ourselves. The boundary polygons were cut into one-degree squares with a margin, with coordinates rounded to 0.0001 degree (about 11 metres), so a browser downloads only the squares it needs. The rounding is small next to the generalisation already in the 1:500,000 files, but it means the boundaries here are for orientation and not for survey or legal work.
We do not use ZIP Code Tabulation Area boundary polygons. The ZIP result is the nearest area centre, as explained on the ZIP page.
What the tools cannot promise
- The position comes from your device. Its accuracy is whatever the browser reports, and it can be wrong by a lot, especially on a computer.
- County, state and place lines in the data are simplified. Near a line the answer can be wrong, and the page warns you when your reported accuracy reaches another area.
- A ZIP Code Tabulation Area approximates a USPS ZIP code. It is not an official mailing ZIP.
- Nothing here is for navigation, emergencies, legal jurisdiction or deciding where mail goes. See the terms.
Corrections
If a result is wrong, a boundary looks off or a page is broken, tell us which page and what you expected.