Ordering Address Labels: Formats, Sizes, and Getting It Right the First Time
Address labels are cheap right up until they are wrong. Five hundred labels with a missing unit number is a wasted order and a season of misdelivered post. Verify the address first, decide on format second, then order.
Verify before you print
This is the whole point of doing it in this order. Once labels are printed you are committed, and the errors that cause delivery problems are exactly the ones that look fine on screen: a missing apartment number, ST where USPS expects DR, a ZIP that belongs to the next town, a directional prefix dropped from a street that has both a North and a South version.
Two things to read on the result. The standardized address line is what USPS considers correct — copy that wording rather than your own. And if dpv comes back showing the building was confirmed but the unit was not, stop: your unit number is wrong or missing, and it will cause intermittent delivery failures that are maddening to diagnose later.
If you are ordering labels for a mailing list rather than for yourself, run the whole list through bulk lookup first. On a list that has not been cleaned in a few years, expect a meaningful share of rows to come back unmatched or flagged vacant — every one of those is a label and a stamp you were about to waste.
How USPS wants an address written
There is a formal standard, and machines read it. You do not have to follow it — a handwritten address gets delivered fine — but automated sorting is faster and more reliable when you do, and for bulk mail it is a condition of discounted postage.
| Capitals | All uppercase. Machines read it more reliably than mixed case. |
|---|---|
| Punctuation | Leave it out. No commas, no full stops. The only exception is the hyphen in a ZIP+4. |
| Abbreviations | Use the standard ones: ST AVE RD DR BLVD LN CT CIR PL TER PKWY HWY. Directionals as N S E W NE NW SE SW. |
| Unit line | Put the unit on the same line as the street where it fits: 85 SYCAMORE RD APT 2. Use APT STE UNIT RM FL, and the # symbol only if nothing else fits. |
| Last line | City, then state abbreviation, then ZIP+4, with no comma: JERSEY CITY NJ 07305-1234. |
| Return address | Top left of the envelope, or the upper-left of a label sheet. Same rules apply. |
A correctly formatted label looks like this:
PERRAULT JEAN-PAUL 85 SYCAMORE RD APT 2 JERSEY CITY NJ 07305-1234
Reading order runs narrowest to broadest, bottom line last — the opposite of how a person would say it aloud, and exactly how a sorting machine works through it.
Label sizes
Almost every label sheet sold in the US matches one of a handful of standard layouts, and design software refers to them by those layout numbers. Buying a sheet that matches a common layout means every template in every program already fits it.
| Size | Per sheet | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 2⅝ × 1 in | 30 | Standard mailing labels. The default for envelopes and the size most people mean. |
| 4 × 2 in | 10 | Parcels, and any address long enough that a small label gets cramped. |
| 1¾ × ½ in | 80 | Return address labels. Too small for a destination address with a unit number. |
| 3⅓ × 4 in | 6 | Shipping labels with a barcode. |
| 4 × 6 in | 1–2 | Thermal printer shipping labels — the standard for anyone shipping regularly. |
Two practical notes. Long addresses are the usual reason a label looks wrong: an apartment number plus a long street name plus a long city name will not sit comfortably on a 2⅝ × 1 inch label at a readable size, so go up to 4 × 2 rather than shrinking the type below about 10 point. And matte white beats glossy for anything a machine has to scan.
Printing at home versus ordering
| Print at home | Order printed | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Variable addresses, small runs, anything urgent | Your own return address, repeat use, anything decorative |
| Cost | Cheap per sheet, but you own the printer and the ink | Higher per label, no equipment |
| Turnaround | Minutes | Days to a couple of weeks |
| Risk | Misalignment and printer jams on label stock | A typo becomes several hundred typos |
If you print at home
- Use the template that matches your sheet's layout number. Every word processor and most design tools have them built in — do not lay out a grid by hand.
- Print one test sheet on plain paper and hold it against a blank label sheet up to the light. Misalignment is the single most common waste, and this catches it for the price of one sheet of paper.
- Feed label sheets one at a time. Label stock is thicker than paper and stacks of it jam.
- Set the paper type to heavy or label in the print dialogue, and turn off any scale-to-fit option — scaling is what silently shifts everything by a few millimetres.
- Black text on white is not a stylistic recommendation, it is a scannability one. Save the decorative treatment for the return address.
If you order
- Proofread the address out loud, one line at a time, against the standardized version from the lookup above. Reading silently is how typos survive proofreading.
- Check the ZIP+4 digit by digit. It is the field nobody proofreads, because it looks like noise.
- Order a small quantity first if the supplier allows it. The price break at a thousand is tempting and expensive to be wrong about.
- Ask for a digital proof. Most printers provide one; approving it is your last chance to catch anything.
Where to order
Rather than name a single supplier, the categories, because what you want depends on the job:
- Office supply retailers — blank label sheets in every standard layout, available same day, cheapest per label if you print them yourself.
- Online print shops — printed return address labels, usually with design templates, at low prices for a few hundred. Turnaround is typically a week or two.
- Stationery and design marketplaces — the same product with better design, at a premium. Worth it for wedding and personal correspondence, not for utility mail.
- Local print shops — the right choice for unusual sizes, special stock, or if you want a person to look at your proof. Often faster than online for a rush job.
- Thermal label printers — if you ship more than a handful of parcels a week, a small thermal printer pays for itself quickly and eliminates ink entirely.
We do not sell labels and have no supplier arrangements. If that ever changes it will be disclosed on this page.
Checking a whole list before a mailing
Upload a CSV and get every row back with ZIP+4, the standardized address line, delivery point confirmation, and a vacancy flag — so you print labels only for addresses that will actually receive them.
Questions
Should I put the ZIP+4 on my address labels?
Yes, if you know it. It is not required for ordinary mail, but it lets automated equipment sort to the delivery point, and for bulk mailings accurate ZIP+4 data is what qualifies you for presort postage discounts.
Should addresses be in capitals?
USPS standards call for all uppercase with no punctuation, because automated sorting reads it more reliably. Mixed case still gets delivered — this matters most for large mailings and for anything where a machine has to read it at speed.
What label size do I need for mailing?
The standard mailing label is 2⅝ × 1 inch, 30 to a sheet. If your address includes a unit number and a long street or city name, move up to 4 × 2 inch rather than reducing the type below about 10 point.
Where does the unit or apartment number go?
On the same line as the street address where it fits: 85 SYCAMORE RD APT 2. Use APT, STE, UNIT, RM, or FL. Put it on its own line above the street only if the line would otherwise be too long. A missing unit number is the most common cause of intermittent delivery failures in apartment buildings.
How do I stop my labels printing off-centre?
Print one test sheet on plain paper and hold it against a blank label sheet up to the light. Then turn off any scale-to-fit option in the print dialogue — scaling is what shifts the layout by a few millimetres — and feed label sheets one at a time.