Metadata: The power behind every verified US address

When you verify an address with Smarty's US Address Verification, you're not just getting a green checkmark.

You're unlocking a rich dataset packed with insights that can transform how your business ships, communicates, analyzes, and grows.

We call this powerful bundle "metadata"—and it’s so much more than just extra info.

Metadata is additional information returned alongside a verified address.

It gives you context, clarity, and confidence in the data you're working with.

Instead of a simple address string, you get a complete profile of the address, including its geographic location precision, delivery readiness, and dozens of other attributes that help you make smarter decisions.

Address metadata fuels business-critical decisions across industries. Here are just a few ways:

• Shipping optimization: Determine whether an address is deliverable, vacant, or a commercial location to avoid failed deliveries and ensure correct postage.
• Fraud prevention: Use metadata like DPV® (Delivery Point Validation) codes to flag suspicious or non-existent addresses.
• Marketing segmentation: For hyper-personalized campaigns, target by congressional district, ZIP+4, or RDI (Residential Delivery Indicator, which tells you whether the location is residential or commercial).
• Regulatory compliance: Metadata like County FIPS supports tax jurisdiction and healthcare reporting.
• Data unification: Match, deduplicate, and unify customer records and blend 3rd-party datasets with SmaryKey®, our persistent, unique identifier.

Here’s the full lineup of possible metadata returned when verifying a US address with Smarty:

Address structure & delivery info

• Delivery line 1
• Delivery line 2
• Delivery point
• Delivery point barcode
• Delivery point check digit
• Street name
• Street suffix
• Street post direction
• Street prediction
• Secondary designator
• Secondary number
• Primary number
• SuiteLink® match
• PMB (Private Mail Box) designator
• PMB number
• Extra secondary designator
• Extra secondary number

Location & Geography

• City
• Default city name
• State
• ZIP Code
• ZIP+4
• ZIP type
• County name
• County FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard)
• Urbanization
• Congressional district
• Latitude
• Longitude
• Precision (of latitude and longitude)
• Time zone
• UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) offset
• Observes DST (Daylight Saving Time)

Address verification & delivery readiness

• Active
• Vacant
• RDI (Residential Delivery Indicator)
• Record type
• DPV® (Delivery Point Validation) match code
• DPV® footnotes
• DPV® no stat
• EWS (Early Warning System) match
• LACSLink (Locatable Address Conversion System Link) code
• LACSLink indicator
• CMRA (Commercial Mail Receiving Agency)
• Carrier route
• eLOT® (enhanced Line of Travel) sequence
• eLOT® sort
• Building default indicator

Identity, persistence & input

• Addressee (if provided by client)
• Input ID (if provided by client)
• Input index
• Candidate index
• Last line
• SmartyKey®
• Footnotes

Want to know exactly what is meant by each data point? See our API doc.

Heads-up: Because available data varies by region, it’s rare for any single address to return all 55 metadata fields. That said, most addresses come packed with the majority of them. Want to see what yours returns? Try our address validation free for 42 days or check a single address using our free address validation tool.

One more thing: Smarty’s ultra-precise US Rooftop Geocoding returns coordinates that land on the property’s roof 97% of the time. You can subscribe to rooftop geocoding at its pricing page. The geocoordinate accuracy level included in the US Address Verification metadata is typically ZIP-9 (commonly referred to as street-centroid). ZIP-9 means we give you the geocoordinates for the center of the ZIP-9, which can be a single commercial building or between 5 and 20 houses on the same street.