Separating Fact from Fiction in 2025
It's one of the most common questions about internet safety and privacy: if someone has your IP address, can they find your exact home address? Let's get straight to the point.
You cannot find a specific street address, house number, or apartment number from a public IP address.
Your home computer or phone isn't directly connected to the internet with a permanent, physical address. Instead, your Internet Service Provider (ISP)—like Comcast, Verizon, or any other—assigns you a temporary IP address from a pool of addresses they own.
When you use an IP tracker, the location it shows is the location of your ISP's equipment, not your house. This equipment, often called a "Point of Presence" or "node," serves hundreds or thousands of customers in a single area. Therefore, the IP address location points to a general neighborhood or an entire city, but it can't pinpoint a single home.
Think of it like this: The IP address tells you the Post Office that serves a zip code, but it doesn't tell you the street address of a specific person living there.
While you can't get a street address, an IP address still reveals useful general location information:
Only two parties can connect an IP address to a specific person and their billing address:
A regular person using a public IP location tracker does not have access to this private information.
Knowing the city and country is still very powerful for verifying someone's location, understanding your website audience, or for general online safety.
See What Your Own IP Reveals