Before figuring out how to write your address on your resume, you should determine whether you need it in the first place.
The answer to that question isn’t clear-cut. In the past, this information was a must-have on job applications. However, the climate has changed—people started putting more emphasis on privacy, and there’s also the question of potential location-based discrimination.
Nowadays, there are numerous pros and cons to including your address on your application letter. Keep reading to find out exactly when you should add an address to your resume and how to do it properly.
Without further ado, let’s jump right in!
Key Takeaways
Writing your address on a resume is an outdated practice, but it’s still being used occasionally.
There are many valid reasons not to add your address to your resume, including privacy and security issues, potential discrimination, lack of resume space, etc.
Still, there are instances when including an address to your resume helps, like for the purposes of passing the ATS scan or when it’s required by the job posting.
In most cases, adding your city and a country/province is enough.
Only include your full mailing address if it’s mandatory.
Your address goes in the contact information section in a resume header.
Should You Write Your Address on Your Resume?
The short answer is no—you typically don’t need to write your address on a resume. The only occasion when this is acceptable is when a job listing requires it.
Nevertheless, knowing when, where, and how to write your address on a resume makes you flexible. You’ll be able to adapt your application letter to any situation and always make the most out of it.
For this reason, we’ve compiled an in-depth list of reasons to include or omit this piece of information.
Reasons Not to Write Your Address on Your Resume
The practice of adding an address to a resume started out of necessity. Back in the day, when people communicated via letters, the only way for employers to contact the candidates was to send letters to the current and permanent addresses stated in their resumes.
With the modernization of communication, that reason is no longer valid, but people still do it out of habit. Still, there are numerous arguments against its inclusion—some are purely practical, while others are more controversial.
#1. Privacy
Privacy is a valid concern and a legitimate reason not to add your address to a resume. You might not trust the potential employer or their company yet, and you could be concerned about the misuse of your private information.
A halfway measure would be to include just your city and state without adding your street address. That way, you’ll have this bit of information in your application while still greatly protecting your privacy from job scams.
#2. Potential Discrimination
The US Civil Rights Act of 1964 made discrimination based on race, color, sex, or religion illegal. That’s why employees aren’t allowed to ask job applicants anything related to the above-mentioned topics. Even including a photo on your resume could get it discarded because the companies don’t want to risk coming off as discriminatory.
The bottom line is—if you include your location in a resume, your application becomes a potential subject of discrimination. For example, certain locations feature high demographic prevalence. As a result, recruiters could indirectly assume your race or religion, which could result in discrimination.
#3. Security
Privacy and security are closely related, which means the misuse of personal information could lead to serious security issues. If the company you’re applying to doesn’t take good care of your resume, they could leak its contents, which, in turn, makes you a potential target for malicious attacks.
One such example would be the poor cybersecurity of the company’s website. If you submit your application through it and the channels aren’t secure, a third party could easily obtain your private information and use it in a potentially harmful way.
#4. Not a Requirement
We already touched upon the fact that adding an address to your resume is an outdated practice. The vast majority of recruiters today will ask for a soft copy of your resume, as digital versions are easier to track and organize. Plus, they are much quicker to process than hard copies.
Since you’re sending a digital copy, you’ll get a digital response, so there’s no need to disclose your physical address. If you do get to make a hard copy of your resume, you’ll more than likely take it with you to an interview, which means you still don’t need to put your address in.
#5. Saving Space
Most resumes should be one page long. So, candidates who have a lot of valuable work-related skills, achievements, and work experiences need to fit everything they want to showcase onto that single page.
For that reason, consider skipping your address in favor of more important information. It might not look like much, but it allows you to add a few more skills, another degree or certification, publication, volunteer experience, or even a hobby.
#6. Location is Not Relevant to the Job
If your location is far away from the office, you should consider not adding it to your resume.
Recruiters might be biased toward someone closer to the workplace. That’s because they could see several potential issues with candidates who are too far away, such as longer traffic times that could result in more instances of employees being late.
On the other hand, someone who is closer to the workplace could, in most cases, start working sooner. Plus, they wouldn’t have to consider relocating, which requires time and resources.
Finally, a big distance from the workplace might mean you’re not a proper cultural fit or that the business climate is different in your area than in the company’s surroundings.
Reasons to Include Your Address on Your Resume
Now that we’ve gone through several reasons why you shouldn't include this piece of information in your resume, let’s take a look at the opposing arguments. There are still instances when it’s beneficial or even required to include it, so let’s check them out!
#1. For ATS Purposes
ATS stands for “applicant tracking system,” and it’s a piece of software that helps recruiters quickly handle a large number of resumes. It scans job applications for relevant information and automatically discards unsuitable candidates. This saves hiring managers a lot of time.
ATS can be set up to look at your location, among other parameters. That’s why it’s essential not only to include this bit but to know exactly how to write an address on a resume. Even if you do include your location in your resume but format it improperly, ATS might miss it.
Still, the software usually looks at a broad geographic location. Unless specified, you can simply write your city and state. That will show recruiters that you aren’t wasting their time by applying from a different continent, for example.
#2. It is a Requirement
If the job posting asks for your location, you should strongly consider adding it to your document. One of the reasons for this is because of the ATS, as omitting your location might result in your application being skipped at the very beginning.
Also, even though plenty of professions are transitioning towards remote jobs, some of them still require physical presence. If the workplace isn’t flexible and employers need someone who always has to be present during work hours, they’ll require you to include your location information on a resume.
This piece of information assists them in filtering out viable candidates because it is unfeasible to hire someone who can only work remotely. If you do not list it on your resume, they may conclude that you do not meet the requirements in the first place.
#3. Location is Relevant to the Job
All of the cons of including your location in a resume if it’s too far from the workplace turn into pros if you’re close to it. You gain an advantage over other candidates since the distance is no longer an issue. Your commute times will be short, which means less chance of running late.
You can also start working as soon as possible without thinking about relocating. Lastly, you’re likely more familiar with the company’s culture and professional environment than other candidates since you live there.
How to Write Your Address on a Resume
With all the pros and cons out of the way, let’s learn how to write an address on a resume. Whether it’s required or you decide to add it anyway, you want to make sure you do it correctly.
City
The most common method of including your location on your resume is also one of the most basic. You just state your city and your country or province, and that’s it. Here’s what that looks like:
City Example
Denver, Colorado.
Simple, isn’t it? To make it even shorter, you can abbreviate whatever you can. That way, our example turns into this:
Denver, CO
One of the reasons this is a widely accepted format is that you get to include your geographic location while still maintaining high levels of privacy.
Full Mailing Address
The full mailing address is much longer and more detailed than the one that includes only the city and state. It features your street address, unit number, city, province or state, postal code, and country.
You should only use this format if the job listing asks for it or if it works to your advantage. Here’s what a previous example would look like if it were a full mailing address:
Mailing Address Example
47 W. 37th Street, Denver, CO, 80247
Using abbreviations is also more effective in this case since you’re including more information.
Relocation Address
You can turn the drawback of being located far from the workplace into an advantage by indicating your willingness to relocate. This way, you may become a viable candidate for companies that look for applicants based on their location.
Figuring out what address to put on a resume when relocating depends on your circumstances. Here are some examples that can show you how to list different types of relocations on your resume:
How to List Different Types of Relocation Address
Target a specific location by saying that you’re “looking for a position in the Milwaukee area.”
Highlight your flexibility by stating that you’re “available to relocate nationwide/to Los Angeles.”
If you’re in the process of moving, you can specify that by noting that you’re “relocating to Miami in June 2023.”
ATS Address
A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work when adding your address to your resume to pass the ATS scan. It all depends on the way hiring managers set up the software. As a result, any of the methods mentioned above will work under the right circumstances.
What you should do is research the job posting to try and figure out what kind of information they want. If you don’t find any relevant instructions, you can try to find out by researching the company or the recruiter.
Ultimately, if you don’t learn anything that would help you, either omit this bit or use the simplest city and country/province approach.
Where to Include Your Address on a Resume
The final piece of the “how to write your address on a resume” puzzle is knowing where to include it. Fortunately, this question has the most straightforward answer.
Your address should be written in the contact information section of your resume. This part is also known as the resume header since it’s the first section at the top of the document. It contains essential details like your name, job title, phone number, and email address.
Last, but not least, it's very important to watch out for spelling mistakes in this section. A single misplaced character can make your phone number or address useless.
Closing Thoughts
Now that you know how to write an address on a resume, you also understand why it can be a touchy subject.
All that enables you to adapt to any situation and include (or omit) your address in or from your resume when necessary. Feel free to save the article and come back for a reminder on how to format this part and where to place it on your application!
