# Street Addresses **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 3, 2003, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316 "2003-01-03T00:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/1 "2003-01-03T00:00:00Z")
IIRC, in every city I lived in, the odd numbered addresses have been on the east and south sides of the streets, with the even numbered on the west and north. Does anyone live in a municipality that does not follow this order? And if this is a universal rule for the country,on what basis? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/2 "2003-01-03T00:27:22Z")
In Los Angeles, the even numbers are on the south side of the street or the east side of the street. Or at least they are in the principal section of street numbering for the city (there are parts of the city where the numbers start over) ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/3 "2003-01-03T00:50:05Z")
My address is 30635 and my house is on the west side of the street. I took an exam to be a mailman about 25 years ago and the exam even stated that there is no set rule for even and odd house number and which side of the street the addresses are located. It is all set by the city or county planning department. ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/4 "2003-01-03T01:07:03Z")
St Louis seems to be different (with regard to e-w streets anyway). The Pageant is on the north side of Delmar and it has an odd address, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/5 "2003-01-03T01:13:44Z")
My address is even and I am on the south side of the street ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/6 "2003-01-03T01:15:38Z")
In Milwaukee, even numbered addresses are on the east or north side of the street, odd numbered addresses are on the west or south side of the street. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/7 "2003-01-03T01:16:11Z")
In NYC the even numbers are on the east and south sides of the streets, and odd numbers on the west and north sides. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/8 "2003-01-03T01:25:16Z")
1507, West side of street. As an aside, our older streets actually do run N/S and E/W. Magnetically. Kinda unusual. No river, I guess. Sorry, **barbitu8**. Carry on. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/9 "2003-01-03T15:45:06Z")
When I was about 12 I lived briefly in Germantown, TN, a suburb of Memphis. My father and I made merciless fun of our neighbor, a woman in her second year of college, when it became obvious that even at this advanced age she had not yet learned that there’s an even and odd side of every street. Nearly a decade later we moved back to Germantown. One day, Dad and I were looking for some address we had to go to when we realized that an entire stretch of road had both odd and even numbers on the east side of the street. Needless to say, we apologized to the poor girl immediately. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/10 "2003-01-03T15:59:33Z")
My address is 2727 and we’re on the south side of the road. However, I don’t believe that Pratts, MS is going help much in proving the OP’s theory. ---
**Author:** ![Harli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c0e974/32.png) [@Harli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harli)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/11 "2003-01-03T16:03:44Z")
In my city, the even and odd numbers switch sides on some streets. So on the North side of Main St E, the numbers are even, but when you hit the mid point and reach Main St W, the numbers are odd on the North side. So, no, I guess there is no set of rules. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/12 "2003-01-03T16:04:02Z")
I know you where talking about the States but here’s some international info. In Dublin, streets have names eg. O’Connell Street, Grafton Street etc but the city is broken up into post codes. Dublin 1, 2, 3 etc D. 1 is the city center All the even numbers are on the South side of the City All the odd numbers are on the North side of the City. The river Liffey which flows through the center of the city sets the North/South divide. ---
**Author:** ![mrbuddylee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@mrbuddylee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrbuddylee)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/13 "2003-01-03T16:13:46Z")
In a semi-related question, why do street numbers skip? I live at 6626. The neighbor to my right (facing the house) is 6628. The neighbor to my left is 6622. What happened to 6624? ---
**Author:** ![mrcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@mrcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrcrow)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/14 "2003-01-03T16:18:07Z")
31 west side when i worked in refinery plants the south west corner was 000-000 and all coordinates were given as northings and eastings any connection?? tubal cain may have the answer ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/15 "2003-01-03T16:21:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yojimbo \* > \*\*In Dublin, streets have names eg. O’Connell Street, Grafton Street etc but the city is broken up into post codes. Dublin 1, 2, 3 etc > > D. 1 is the city center > All the even numbers are on the South side of the City > All the odd numbers are on the North side of the City.\*\* Mostly, but not strictly true. Parkgate Street/ Conyngham Road, just north of the river, is Dublin 8. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/16 "2003-01-03T16:25:42Z")
On the street where I live, the even numbers are on the north, south and west sides, and the odd numbers are on the north, south, and east. I’m at 2012. The houses next door are 2008 and 2016. There’s also a 2021 1/2. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/17 "2003-01-03T16:27:44Z")
Part of my former job as Planning Director was naming streets and assigning addresses. The way it worked in my locality was that the street numbers increased running from west to east, and from south to north. The odd numbers were on the west and north, the even on the the east and south. House numbers skip for various reasons. If the lotting pattern is very old, and there isn’t any room for new construction, the numbers are less likely to skip within the block. If there is available space for more housing, the numbers have to skip so that addresses are available. In rural areas, the address isn’t assigned by house location, but by driveway location. Houses sometimes get constructed in a physical location that is behind their immediate neighboring house (say to the west of the house), while the driveway is actually to the west (think of a long, winding driveway). ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/18 "2003-01-03T16:32:01Z")
When I lived in Detroit, my address on the south side of the street was odd and my other address on the west side of the street was even, as in the OP. However, I have friends in a different section of the city who live on the west side of the street and have an odd number. (I suspect that cities that grew by incorporating smaller towns may have inconsistent numbering systems if they did not renumber all the houses when they annexed the smaller communities.) I worked at a place in Euclid, OH with an odd-numbered street address that was on the north side of the street. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/19 "2003-01-03T16:38:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by barbitu8 \* > \*\*IIRC, in every city I lived in, the odd numbered addresses have been on the east and south sides of the streets, with the even numbered on the west and north. Does anyone live in a municipality that does not follow this order? \*\* My house (Brooklyn, NY) is an exception too. I’m on the south-side of an east-west running street and my house number is even. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316/20 "2003-01-03T17:04:29Z")
In England, especially in some of the older neighbourhoods, all bets are off. Famous example: Downing Street in Westminster (as in the Blairs’ residence) only has three houses, all on the same side of the street, and they’re numbered 10, 11 and 12. I’ve seen a few neighbourhoods which had “circles” or “squares” of houses surrounding a circular park. Even though they’re all on the outside of the circle (and hence on the same side of the street) the houses are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. (Well-known example to Oxonians: Wellington Square.) There were even some streets in Oxford where on one side of the street the houses were numbered 1, 2, 3 etc. heading one direction, and at the end of the street the numbers “crossed the street” and were numbered upwards in the other direction. Pusey Street is one such street. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-addresses/146316.md?page=2)