Consumer Alert: Cedar Rapids Address Requirements

The Cedar Rapids Police Department and Cedar Rapids Fire Department have been alerted by several citizens that notices have been taped to mailboxes or front doors indicating that home addresses will be painted on the curbs.  These notices are not from the City of Cedar Rapids, but rather from a private company offering the service for a fee.  Curbside painting of home addresses is not required by the City and is not endorsed by either the Police Department or Fire Department.

The Police Department and Fire Department recommend that home owners have address numbers on their house that are at least four inches in height.   For maximum visibility, the color of the numbers should be on a contrasting background color.  Actual numbers are preferred over script lettering that spells out the address (123 versus one hundred twenty-three).

Rental houses are required to have four inch numbers on the dwelling, as well as numbers on the garage if the garage is in the alley, according to the Cedar Rapids Housing Code.

Citizens may choose to have address numbers painted on the curb in front of their dwelling, but this is not a City requirement.  The numbers could be blocked by a parked vehicle or snow in the winter; under these circumstances, the painted address would not be an effective means in which emergency responders could find a location in the City.

Citizens can help emergency responders locate the address of an incident more efficiently by also placing address numbers on the mailbox or turning on the lights outside of the house at night for a medical emergency, for example.