How Accurate Is IP Geolocation? Why Your IP Location Is Wrong
You check your IP on a site like ours and it places you in a city 100 km away — or the wrong region entirely. Nothing is broken. That's just how IP geolocation works, and understanding why explains a lot about how the internet tracks you.
How IP geolocation actually works
There's no GPS in an IP address. Geolocation providers (MaxMind, IP2Location, ipinfo and others) build databases by combining:
- Regional registry records — which organisation was allocated each address block, and where it's registered
- ISP data — how providers announce and deploy their ranges
- Network measurements — latency triangulation from multiple points
- User-contributed signals — sites that see both your IP and a confirmed location feed corrections back
The result is an educated estimate per address block — not a live position fix.
Real-world accuracy
| Level | Typical accuracy |
|---|---|
| Country | 95–99% correct |
| Region/state | ~80–90% |
| City | ~55–80% — worse outside major metros |
| Street address | Never — not possible from an IP |
Why your location shows wrong
- ISP routing hubs — your traffic exits at a regional gateway, so the IP "lives" there, not at your home.
- Mobile networks and CGNAT — thousands of users share gateway IPs that may sit in another city entirely.
- Reassigned blocks — address ranges get sold and moved; databases lag behind by weeks or months.
- VPNs — you're seeing the server's location, which is the entire point.
Why it still matters
Despite the fuzziness, IP location drives real decisions: content licensing and geoblocks, regional pricing, fraud checks that flag "impossible travel," ad targeting, and search results. Even city-level accuracy is enough for all of these — which is exactly why your IP is worth protecting. See what someone can do with your IP and how to control what it reveals.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my IP show a different city?
Your ISP routes your traffic through regional infrastructure, and geolocation databases place the IP where that infrastructure is registered — often a nearby major city rather than your town.
Can I correct my IP's location?
The major databases accept correction submissions (e.g. MaxMind's correction form). Sites using their data typically update within weeks.
Can a website get my exact location?
Only if you grant browser location permission, which uses GPS/Wi-Fi — that's separate from IP geolocation and requires your explicit consent.