# What's the highest street address in th world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 14, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256 "2009-12-14T19:46:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/41 "2009-12-16T22:17:41Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > But considerably fewer than four- or three-digit numbers, IME, especially in residential areas. Well, even so, you might also consider that most numbering schemes were in use before the adoption of zip codes in 1963. It isn’t my perception that 5 digit numbers are all that uncommon. Even if that’s the case, it’s more likely a function of a local preference for the “consecutive numbers starting with 1 at the end of the street” style, rather than the “new hundred for each block” style. Or arbitrary lunacy, as in the Bay Area - my house number is 5 digits. The ones two blocks down the street are 3 digits. The ones across the main cross street in San Jose in the other direction are 4 digits. It seems to be the case that subdivisions were numbered according to the whims of the developer, and the whimsey was retained when the individual developments were eventually annexed by an incorporated community. Streets like El Camino Real change numbering schemes every time they cross a municipal boundary, in many cases with a fresh “east and west”, with each municipality centering on a different street. ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/42 "2009-12-16T22:42:10Z")
Per the the OP - The longest and highest-reaching contiguous string of address numbers that I know of, starting from 0 and with no large gaps, is International Blvd/E. 14th St./Mission Blvd., running from Merrit Lake in Oakland (starting at 0), and incrementing smoothly down the East Bay for 30 miles until Mission Blvd. runs into the Nimitz Freeway (the highest address Google Maps shows is 46941): [http://tiny.cc/lIWmd](http://tiny.cc/lIWmd). I’m sure there’s a longer road out there, but usually the numbering scheme resets at some point, a la Sunset Blvd/Cesar Chavez Ave in LA. It would be very interesting to know if there is a higher “natural” street number (natural meaning that the street numbers start low, and steadily increase in small increments, rather than just starting at an arbitrarily high value). ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/43 "2009-12-17T00:21:57Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > But considerably fewer than four- or three-digit numbers, IME, especially in residential areas. That just comes from the natural way that street numbering works, not from any aversion to large numbers. Street numbers usually start low and go higher (or start low close to a city marker and go higher farther from the marker) – they only go very high when the street is very long (or is far from the city marker). Long streets are more rare than short streets, and large cities are more rare than small cities. ---
**Author:** ![Dandmb50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ba9def/32.png) [@Dandmb50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandmb50)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/44 "2009-12-18T09:30:11Z")
I,m not sure about the numbers, but it is said that Yonge street is the longest in the world. It’s 19,000 km (about 18.000 miles long. It starts at 1 Yonge St in Downtown Toronto near Lake Ontario and goes to northern Ontario. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/45 "2009-12-18T14:32:46Z")
> [@Dandmb50](#): > > I,m not sure about the numbers, but it is said that Yonge street is the longest in the world. It’s 19,000 km (about 18.000 miles long. It starts at 1 Yonge St in Downtown Toronto near Lake Ontario and goes to northern Ontario. Technically, it’s _Highway 11_ that goes to Rainy River. Yonge Street only goes to Holland Landing. And it’s 1900 km, not 19000. ---
**Author:** ![Dandmb50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ba9def/32.png) [@Dandmb50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandmb50)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/46 "2009-12-18T19:06:46Z")
[delete ---
**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:** [December 19, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/47 "2009-12-19T21:19:34Z")
Southold NY has street addresses in the 50,000s – My father’s store is 54180 Route 25, and it continues upward, probably into the 60000s at least. The numbers are assigned due to distance along the road. Thus 54180 is 54180 feet from a starting point. Makes it easier for the fire department to find in an area with long distances between houses,. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/48 "2009-12-19T21:32:32Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Technically, it’s _Highway 11_ that goes to Rainy River. Yonge Street only goes to Holland Landing. And it’s 1900 km, not 19000. In addition, 19000 km is around 11800 miles, not 18000, so 1900 km is around 1180 miles. ---
**Author:** ![RangerJeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c37758/32.png) [@RangerJeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RangerJeff)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/49 "2012-02-17T00:18:12Z")
It actually goes farther north than indicated in the posts, but only to about 60 miles north of Toronto. I wonder what the SMALLEST address is, i.e., what the smallest fraction of an address there is. I’ve seen 1/4ths, but not smaller. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/50 "2012-02-17T00:42:30Z")
All the addresses in Grey County, Ontario, Canada [have six digits](http://www.grey.ca/services/taps/civic-addressing-911/property-addressing/property-addresses-road-section-numbers/). ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/51 "2012-02-17T02:30:32Z")
Things have changed a lot in the last decade as many rural counties have gone to new “city style” addressing systems that number from a baseline. The result is many, many house numbers in the high five digits. A few years ago I took a picture of 94124 Coast Hwy in Lane County, Oregon, for example. (I make street maps and such things interest me). And a bit later, in eastern San Bernardino County, California (nation’s largest county) I took a picture of 153243 Cahto Rd., Earp, California. Looking at some maps, I suspect that San Bernardino County must have house numbers even higher than that. Even stranger, I think SB County addresses are counted from Main and Temple in downtown LA. Further complicating things are the unusual addressing systems used near Chicago in DuPage and Kane counties, which count number of miles from State and Madison in the Loop and produce results such as 46W330 Burlington Rd. Some Canadian counties do indeed have numbering schemes that produce six-digit house numbers, but the first three digits indicate an area and road number rather than distance from a baseline. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/52 "2012-02-17T03:40:32Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > 1 Armstrong-Aldrin Place, Tranquility Base, Luna 370 Sojourner Rd, Ares City, Mars 99998 ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/53 "2012-02-17T03:47:19Z")
Reading through many of the earlier comments, I think it’s safe to say that this thread is likely to stay Dead. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/54 "2012-02-17T16:00:43Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > I always enjoyed driving in Salt Lake City because of the extremely logical numbering system. You can get to an address like 1050 E 800 S without a GPS or a sense of direction. It must have been laid out by engineers, not politicians. I don’t recall Brigham Young having an engineering degree, but he is the one who implemented the grid system, as well as the wide streets in downtown SLC. He decreed that the streets must be wide enough for a wagon team to turn around. ---
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/55 "2012-02-21T17:16:26Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > I don’t recall Brigham Young having an engineering degree, but he is the one who implemented the grid system, as well as the wide streets in downtown SLC. He decreed that the streets must be wide enough for a wagon team to turn around. Maybe he just wanted an easy way to find his wives. 🆒 Whoops! Someone reclaimed this from the dead, a somewhat NO NO at SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/56 "2012-02-21T19:05:00Z")
I still maintain my earlier stance that these five- and six-digit numbers are cheating, because they increment by 100 or whatever every “block” even if there are only two or three (or even no) houses in that stretch. In Britain, if a house is numbered 1000 then it’s a fair bet that there are a thousand houses on that street. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/57 "2012-02-22T00:00:00Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I still maintain my earlier stance that these five- and six-digit numbers are cheating, because they increment by 100 or whatever every “block” even if there are only two or three (or even no) houses in that stretch. > > In Britain, if a house is numbered 1000 then it’s a fair bet that there are a thousand houses on that street. That’s not cheating – that’s standard American (and Canadian) house numbering structure. For one thing, it allows room for new construction between already existing buildings. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/58 "2012-02-22T01:35:13Z")
Highway 61, especially when you go back. ---
**Author:** ![TheBori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@TheBori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBori)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/59 "2012-02-22T01:49:46Z")
Here in Indianapolis, the streets north of the city are numbered based on the distance from the center of the city. 10th street is 0.1 miles from the monument. My street number is 13890 as I am just south of 140th street (14.0 miles from the monument). I know of streets up to 260th street… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256/60 "2012-02-22T02:49:18Z")
I had a friend who lived in the 40000’s–IIRC, this was around Lake Tahoe, CA. It exposed a bug in my car’s GPS unit: numbers above 32767 turned into a negative number. 16-bit two’s-complement arithmetic for the win. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-street-address-in-th-world/521256.md?page=4)