topic Re: Help displaying ZIP code outlines in ArcGIS Pro (new to GIS) in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Help displaying ZIP code outlines in ArcGIS Pro (new to GIS)

Patrick_Gar — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 14:16:36 GMT

Hi everyone,

Apologies in advance if this is too basic a question for this forum/posted in the wrong place — I'm completely new to GIS and have been asked to use our ArcGIS Pro account to complete the following:

I have a CSV file containing 77 ZIP codes, each with X and Y coordinates that I believe represent the centroid of each location.

What I need to do is display the outlines of these ZIP codes on a map.

I’ve spent a full day trying to figure this out via YouTube videos, but I'm still stuck. I think I need to use a map with polygons, which I've found called zip_poly.

But actually doing a join to just get the zips I care about to show up on the map is where I'm stuck. Or perhaps what I'm trying is not the correct way to go about it.

Any guidance would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks in advance.
Patrick

Re: Help displaying ZIP code outlines in ArcGIS Pro (new to GIS)

Eugene_Adkins — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 14:27:27 GMT

Add this layer into your map via the "add data" and then "data from path".

United States ZIP Code Boundaries - Overview

It's a zip code layer from ESRI. If you have an existing point layer from your CSV, you can use the "select by location" tool to select the zip code polygons based on them containing the centroid point layer. From there, simply export the features from the selection into a new layer and you'll have your specified polygons. This will probably be one of the quicker options with your existing data.

Hope that helps.

Re: Help displaying ZIP code outlines in ArcGIS Pro (new to GIS)

BobBooth1 — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 15:25:19 GMT

You can make a point layer for the zip centroids from the table using the XY Table to Point tool.

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/data-management/xy-table-to-point.htm

You can use that as the point layer for selecting the polygons as Eugene suggested.

Re: Help displaying ZIP code outlines in ArcGIS Pro (new to GIS)

Patrick_Gar — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 21:17:03 GMT

That worked! Thanks so much @Eugene_Adkins and @BobBooth1.