IP postcode district map, Ipswich
Supplier statuses last checked .
The IP postcode area covers 34 districts and 21,951 live postcodes, from IP1 to IP98. It is centred on Ipswich and also covers Bury St Edmunds, Stowmarket, Framlingham, Woodbridge and Felixstowe.
Districts here average 646 postcodes.
Where the IP districts sit
7 districts are plotted without a label where labels would overlap; every one is in the table below.
Where IP sits
It falls across Suffolk and Norfolk.
Water supply across IP
All 34 IP districts are supplied by Anglian Water, which is notable at this size: an area with this many districts usually crosses at least one supply boundary, and this one does not.
Anglian Water has a hosepipe ban in force from 11 July 2026, covering the whole of IP.
The shape of the IP area
The districts are wildly uneven: IP14 holds 1,626 postcodes around Stowmarket and IP98 holds 7, a ratio of about 232 to one. They divide into 116 sectors.
The numbering is not continuous. IP runs up to 98 but has only 34 districts, so 64 numbers are unused:.
Several districts share a settlement, which is a common source of confusion when a form rejects an address: IP1, IP2, IP3, IP4 and IP8 all point at Ipswich, IP29, IP30, IP31, IP32 and IP33 all point at Bury St Edmunds and IP5 and IP10 all point at Kesgrave.
What borders IP
IP sits next to CO (Colchester) to the south, NR (Norwich) to the north, CB (Cambridge) to the west, CM (Chelmsford) to the south west and PE (Peterborough) to the north west.
Its neighbours run in 5 different directions, so IP is landlocked by other postcode areas on most sides.
IP districts, settlements and water supply
Principal settlement is the town or city each district sits in or nearest to, derived from OS Open Names. It is not the Royal Mail post town, which is licensed data and not published openly. Status is resolved live from each company’s own notice.
Water hardness in IP
No water company covering IP publishes hardness figures as open data. The gap is named per district below so you know who to ask.
| District | Hardness | As published | Supply zone | Published by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IP1 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP2 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP3 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP4 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP5 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP6 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP7 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP8 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP9 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP10 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP11 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP12 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP13 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP14 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP15 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP16 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP17 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP18 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP19 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP20 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP21 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP22 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP23 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP24 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP25 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP26 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP27 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP28 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP29 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP30 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP31 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP32 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP33 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| IP98 | Not published by Anglian Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
Hardness is published per census area, not per postcode, so these figures characterise a district rather than measuring one address. They are a scale and taste matter, not a safety one. Hardness data version wessex-water@2022-2025+yorkshire-water@2026.
Download the IP data
No signup, no email wall. GeoJSON carries the district points, the supplier and the live status, so it can be dropped straight into a map.
District positions are averaged postcode centroids from OS Code-Point Open. They show roughly where a district sits, not where its boundary runs, and are not legal boundaries.
Frequently asked questions
How many postcode districts are in the IP area?
There are 34 IP postcode districts, running from IP1 to IP98, and they contain 21,951 live postcodes across 116 sectors.
What towns does the IP postcode area cover?
IP covers Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, Stowmarket, Framlingham, Woodbridge and Felixstowe. The area takes its name from Ipswich, and each district is listed with its settlement in the table on this page.
Which water company supplies IP postcodes?
Anglian Water supplies all 34 IP districts. Supply boundaries follow the pipe network rather than postcode geography, so confirm against your water bill if you are near the edge of the area.
Why do IP1 and IP2 both say Ipswich?
IP1, IP2, IP3, IP4 and IP8 all serve Ipswich, covering different parts of it. A single town routinely needs more than one postcode district once it passes a few thousand delivery points, so this is normal rather than an error in an address.
Can I download a free IP postcode map?
Yes. This page offers the IP districts as GeoJSON, CSV and SVG, free and with no signup or email address required. The GeoJSON carries each district's position, its water company and its current restriction status, so it can be dropped straight into a mapping tool.
Why is the IP area called Ipswich when it covers Stowmarket?
IP takes its letters from Ipswich, where the sorting office that served the area was based when the code was allocated. Stowmarket is the largest settlement in the area today, in IP14, but the area code follows the historic sorting geography rather than current population.
Which councils cover the IP postcode area?
IP reaches into Suffolk and Norfolk. A postcode area is not a council area: they were drawn for different purposes and a single district can sit across a council boundary, so your postcode does not tell you which authority you pay.