Tool to find French INSEE city code or search city name from INSEE code, but also postal codes correspondances for a given french city.
INSEE French City Code - dCode
Tag(s) : Geography, Notation System
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INSEE French City Code
From an INSEE city code
From a French city name
Answers to Questions (FAQ)
What is the french city INSEE code? (Definition)
The French INSEE code (or city code) is administratively called official geographic code (in France) and is defined by the INSEE institute (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies). It applies to French towns, townships, boroughs, counties, regions, and overseas territories.
The INSEE code consists of 5 digits, the first 2 digits are the number of the French department the town belongs to (coded on 2 digits) and the other 3 digits are a code given to the town (coded on 3 digits).
The INSEE code is different from the postal code (zip code) and should not be confused. The INSEE code is unique, whereas a city can have several postal codes and a postal code can correspond to several cities.
How to find a french city INSEE code?
dCode retrieves a code from the name of a city, but also to find a city from its code.
Example: 02468 gives the French city Marle
Example: Caen gives the INSEE code 14118
The current nomenclature does not allow for more than 1000 towns by department.
How to find an INSEE code for an old city?
Cities sometimes change names or disappear or regroup. dCode manages the codes of all cities, even with old town names.
Municipalities in other countries (such as Algeria which was French) are not registered.
What is the town of birth code?
The commune of birth code is the INSEE geographic code. It is used in particular by the administration or social security.
What is the French city code?
The common code normally refers to the INSEE code, but it can erroneously refer to the postal code.
How are INSEE city codes determined?
The structured part of the code (the first 2 digits) is fixed according to the department, the last 3 digits are chosen by INSEE. In the beginning it was mainly alphabetical order (cities starting with A had the first numbers 001, etc.) then the emerging or merging cities take the unused numbers.
Why does my INSEE code indicate a foreign country?
The INSEE repository also contains a list of foreign countries to code the places of birth (country only, not the city) of certain people not born in France.
Example: 99134 is the code for Spain
Are INSEE city codes unique?
Yes, the INSEE geographical code repository associates a unique code with a given city.
Source code
dCode retains ownership of the "INSEE French City Code" source code. Except explicit open source licence (indicated Creative Commons / free), the "INSEE French City Code" algorithm, the applet or snippet (converter, solver, encryption / decryption, encoding / decoding, ciphering / deciphering, translator), or the "INSEE French City Code" functions (calculate, convert, solve, decrypt / encrypt, decipher / cipher, decode / encode, translate) written in any informatic language (Python, Java, PHP, C#, Javascript, Matlab, etc.) and all data download, script, or API access for "INSEE French City Code" are not public, same for offline use on PC, mobile, tablet, iPhone or Android app!
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Cite dCode
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Cite as source (bibliography):
INSEE French City Code on dCode.fr [online website], retrieved on 2023-02-02,
- From an INSEE city code
- From a French city name
- What is the french city INSEE code? (Definition)
- How to find a french city INSEE code?
- How to find an INSEE code for an old city?
- What is the town of birth code?
- What is the French city code?
- How are INSEE city codes determined?
- Why does my INSEE code indicate a foreign country?
- Are INSEE city codes unique?
