The M postcode area, also known as the Manchester postcode area, is a group of postcode districts in the North West of England. The districts are subdivisions of three post towns: Manchester, Salford and Sale and cover parts of all ten boroughs of Greater Manchester, primarily the cities of Manchester and Salford and the majority of the borough of Trafford. The M postcode area is one of six with a population above 1 million.

Coverage

The approximate coverage of the postcode districts: ! M1 ! M2 !rowspan=2|M3 ! M4 ! M5 ! M6 ! M7 ! M8 ! M9 ! M11 ! M12 ! M13 ! M14 ! M15 ! M16 ! M17 ! M18 ! M19 ! M20 ! M21 ! M22 ! M23 ! M24 ! M25 ! M26 ! M27 ! M28 ! M29 ! M30 ! M31 ! M32 ! M33 ! M34 ! M35 ! M38 ! M40 ! M41 ! M43 ! M44 ! M45 ! M46 ! M50 ! M60 (Sectors 1 and 7) ! M60 (Sectors 2 and 8) ! M60 (Sectors 3 and 9) ! M60 (Sectors 4 and 0) ! M60 (Sectors 5 and 6) ! M60 (Sector 9) ! M61 ! M90 ! M99

Changes

The M50 district of Salford was formed out of west of M5 in 2002.

Map

Former scheme

Before the introduction of postcodes in the 1960s, Manchester along with other major cities like Birmingham, Liverpool and Sheffield was divided into numbered postcode districts. With a few exceptions these numbers made up the outcode (the first part of the postcode). The districts were based on Manchester and Salford together and districts outside the city boundaries were also included. For example, the City Centre had postcode districts 1–4 (north-east, south, west and north-west respectively: Manchester 1 was around Piccadilly and 4 was around Victoria). 5, 6, 7 and 8 were in Salford and then the sequence continued across north Manchester and so round to M17 (Trafford Park). M18 onwards were further out still.