Residential addresses actively receiving mail by ZIP code and parish for the New Orleans metro area and other selected parishes. Monthly data for July 2005 and August 2006-Present month for Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, and St. Tammany. Monthly data for January 2016-Present month for Ascensions, East Baton Rouge, and Livingston. Monthly data for August 2017-Present month for St. James. Note: Trends in residential addresses actively receiving mail can serve as a useful indicator of the rate of change in occupied housing units. However, active residential addresses are not the same as occupied housing units. For the decennial census, the Census Bureau defines an occupied housing unit as the usual place of residence for an individual or group of individuals on Census Day (April 1). The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) defines a residential address as actively receiving mail if mail has been picked up within the previous 90 days. The USPS counts of active residential addresses may be higher than Census Bureau counts of occupied households in cities, and lower in rural areas. In cities, the USPS counts may be higher because they include each room in group quarters such as college dormitories, military quarters, and single room occupancies (residences for formerly homeless persons). The Census Bureau does not include group quarters in its count of occupied housing units. In rural areas, mail is frequently delivered to rural route boxes and P.O. boxes rather than street addresses, and thus may lead to an undercount compared to Census Bureau occupied housing units.