The municipality of Zürich is divided into twelve districts (known as Kreis in German), numbered 1 to 12, each one of which may contain anywhere between 1 and 4 neighborhoods. There are a total of 34 neighborhoods. Zürich is also divided into 25 postal areas, roughly corresponding to small districts and neighborhoods of larger districts.

Two large expansions of the city limits occurred in 1893 and in 1934 when the city of Zürich merged with many surrounding municipalities, that had been growing increasingly together since the 19th century. Most of the district boundaries are fairly similar to the original boundaries of the previously existing municipalities before they were incorporated into the city of Zürich.

Each district has a district office, which serves as an official registrar and provides various administrative functions. Larger neighborhoods also have their own neighborhood office.

Politically, the significance of the districts has diminished, especially in elections where smaller districts have aligned with larger districts on some issues, forming between five and nine constituencies. School districts are no longer aligned with districts, as well as Civil Law notaries and church parishes.

Zürich Districts

Zürich Neighborhoods

Zürich Postal Areas

District	Location	Coat of Arms	Neighborhood	BFS-Code	Incorporation	Area in km²	Population 2005	Non-Swiss Citizens
District 1 Altstadt			Rathaus Hochschulen Lindenhof City	261011 261012 261013 261014	before 1893 before 1893 before 1893 before 1893	0.38 0.56 0.23 0.64	3,081 695 950 846	23.9% 27.5% 20.3% 28.3%
District 2			Wollishofen Leimbach Enge	261021 261023 261024	1893 1893 1893	5.75 2.92 2.40	15,592 4,867 8,375	22.9% 23.0% 26.0%
District 3 Wiedikon			Alt-Wiedikon Friesenberg Sihlfeld	261031 261033 261034	1893 1893 1893	1.85 5.15 1.64	14,971 10,360 20,554	32.3% 22.9% 36.5%
District 4 Aussersihl			Werd Langstrasse Hard	261041 261042 261044	1893 1893 1893	0.31 1.13 1.46	3,878 10,368 12,715	33.2% 41.5% 46.2%
District 5 Industriequartier			Gewerbeschule Escher Wyss	261051 261052	1893 1893	0.73 1.27	9,690 2,727	39.3% 26.1%
District 6			Unterstrass Oberstrass	261061 261062	1893 1893	2.46 2.64	19,921 9,494	23.6% 24.7%
District 7			Fluntern Hottingen Hirslanden Witikon	261071 261072 261073 261074	1893 1893 1893 1934	2.84 5.05 2.20 4.93	7,325 10,100 6,859 9,864	23.7% 23.6% 19.4% 17.3%
District 8 Riesbach			Seefeld Mühlebach Weinegg	261081 261082 261083	1893 1893 1893	2.45 0.63 1.72	4,923 5,577 4,843	28.7% 24.6% 25.3%
District 9			Albisrieden Altstetten	261091 261092	1934 1934	4.60 7.47	17,226 28,278	25.6% 37.0%
District 10			Höngg Wipkingen	261101 261102	1934 1893	6.98 2.11	20,773 15,446	19.6% 31.1%
District 11			Affoltern Oerlikon Seebach	261111 261115 261119	1934 1934 1934	6.04 2.67 4.72	18,733 19,585 19,879	30.6% 33.7% 36.0%
District 12 Schwamendingen			Saatlen Schwamendingen Mitte Hirzenbach	261121 261122 261123	1934 1934 1934	1.13 2.23 2.62	6,727 10,322 11,265	31.6% 40.6% 37.5%
Zürich						91.88	366'809	30.2%

References

• Zürich District

"Zurich Neighborhoods, Locations and Districts". TravelSmart Ltd. Retrieved 2008-10-08.