Addressing

Addressing Authority

Clay County GIS serves as the 911 addressing coordinator for Clay County.  The GIS Director has been designated the Addressing Authority for Clay County.  Clay County GIS maintains the official addressing records for all of Clay County.  

New Addresses

For a new property address, property address issues, or property address questions please contact Clay County GIS at gis@claycountymn.gov or 218-299-5003.  

Official Addressing Standards

To facilitate addressing in Clay County, formal standards (PDF) were adopted in 1998.  Highlights of the Addressing Standards can be found here (PDF).

Clay County Addressing System

The Clay County E-911 “locatable address system” follows the National Emergency Numbering Association standards used by counties statewide.

North-south routes in the county are known as “Streets” (ST).  East-west routes are known as “Avenues” (AVE).  All US and state highways retain their names designation (HWY).  The county is divided into two main areas, North (N) and South (S), divided by HWY 10.

The one-to-five digit specific location address (called an Address Number) specifies the distance, in miles and tenths of miles, from Highway 10 or the Red River in Moorhead.  Thus, 15203 210 ST N is 15.2 miles north of HWY 10, and 210 ST N is 21 miles east of the Red River.  The specific location address also indicates the precise distance from a section corner to within 10.6 feet.  There are 1000 addresses per mile.  

The streets and avenues in the county are marked with green intersection signs.  Blue address number signs are also provided by Clay County.  Please report missing or damaged signs to gis@claycountymn.gov or 218-299-5003.

Addressing Guidelines

Effective October 1998, Clay County GIS was designated the E-911 addressing coordinator and assumed responsibility for maintaining the addressing records for all parcels in Clay County.  Jurisdictions with their own planning commission are responsible for assigning their own addresses; however, all jurisdictions must follow the Clay County Addressing Standards.   In all other areas of Clay County, Clay County GIS assigns addresses.  Jurisdictions can request assistance with addressing from Clay County GIS, if desired. 

While detailed information about addressing in Clay County is included in the Addressing Standards.  Here are a few highlighted items:

• Addresses should be assigned off the nearest roadway and per the Clay County numbered street and avenue grid system.
• On larger-sized tracts or rural properties, addresses should be assigned based on the access point to the parcel.
• Stacked lots are addressed off the nearest main roadway which provides access to the lots. The lots are numbered in consecutive order with the lowest number nearest the road.  This rule also pertains to multiple buildings on the same parcel.
• In rural areas, there are ten blocks in each mile.
• HWY 10 is the dividing line between North and South. 

Addressing Mail

All addresses must be fully spelled out, and abbreviated by using the Postal Service™ Standard Abbreviations. Format all lines of the address with a uniform left margin. Addresses should consist of a recipient line, delivery address line and last line.

• Recipient Line: Name of a person or business.
• Delivery Address Line: House number listed 1st followed by the street name, street type, post directional and secondary address (if needed). Numeric street names should not be spelled out and may or may not contain a st, nd, rd or th after the number. Street type is abbreviated as AVE, ST, HWY. Directionals is the term used to refer to the part of the address that gives directional information for delivery (i.e., N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, SW). Abbreviate directionals to the appropriate 1 or 2-character abbreviation. In Clay County, we use a post directional field, which means that the directional should follow the street type. Secondary address unit designators, such as apartment or suite should be included at the end of the delivery address line. The pound sign (Number ) should not be used if the correct designation, such as APT or STE is used.  Addresses on highways are arranged a bit differently than those on numbered streets. An address would read: 12345 HWY 9 N vs 12345 90 AVE S
• Last Line: Spell city names in their entirety. Format the last line with at least 1 space between the city name and 2-character state abbreviation. Two spaces are preferred between the state abbreviation and the zip plus 4 code.

Common Abbreviations

A list of common abbreviations follows. For more detail, please refer to the United States Postal Service (USPS®) Standard Abbreviations.

Signs

Address Number Signs

Blue address number signs are installed and maintained by the Clay County Highway Department. Clay County purchases the signs and installs them free of charge. 

Street Signs

Green street signs are also maintained by the Clay County Highway Department.

Please report missing or damaged signs to gis@claycountymn.gov or 218-299-5003.