I spend a lot of time looking at various websites for information about property sales and taxes. I refer to zillow.com for some of the information, and then use the property search feature on county assessor websites to research ownership and assessed values.

Parcel numbers play a big part in this, and they generally resemble something like:
1445-02-3-24-005.

The other day I realized there is a meaning to these big long numbers. Our country is so diverse, I'm sure this isn't consistent from county to county, but I know of several counties that use the same system.

This example is from Grand County, Colorado.



A Township is comprised of 36 sections:
06 05 04 03 02 01
07 08 09 10 11 12
18 17 16 15 14 13
19 20 21 22 23 24
30 29 28 27 26 25
31 32 33 34 35 36

(I think it's cute how they number these from side-to-side starting in the upper right-hand corner, not the same order that we usually read a table.)



Assigned Quarter Section:

2 1
3 4



Township 1445, Assigned Section 2, Assigned Quarter 3




It is handy to know this system because by looking at the parcel number you can get a clue as to part of the legal description, and where in general the parcel is located.

Take a look at your own parcel number and see if your county uses this system.