How Does Location Targeting Work in Meta Ads?

Locations are an audience control: Meta won’t target beyond them unless you select “Reach more people likely to respond to your ads”. Meta counts someone as in your location if they live there, were there recently or spend time there often. That is wider than a home address, so a city campaign can reach visitors as well as residents. Meta also warns that its location signals vary, so you might see some impressions, messages or leads from outside your selection.

Which places can I choose?

Meta’s limits on what you can enter in one ad set:

Location type	Limit per ad set
Countries	Up to 25
Cities	Up to 250
ZIP or postcodes	Up to 50,000
States, provinces, regions, congressional districts	Searchable; no limit stated by Meta

Depending on your objective and audience, you can also choose wide areas such as worldwide or Asia. You can’t target sanctioned locations: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia (country), Sudan, and the Ukrainian regions of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk and Sevastopol. Countries with very small populations may fail estimated audience size checks on their own, but you may be able to reach them inside a group such as Europe.

How do I set locations?

1. Open Meta Ads Manager and create, edit or duplicate an ad, then go to the ad set level.
2. Go to Audience and select Locations.
3. Enter countries, cities or regions one at a time, or bulk upload a longer list.
4. Hover over a country and select the menu to include or exclude only certain cities.
5. Click a city or pin to adjust the radius slider, or choose “current city only”.

How does the radius work?

When you choose a city or drop a pin, Meta sets a default radius you can adjust. Minimum and maximum radius vary by location type, and a radius never crosses into another country, even if the map shows it does. Every location inside the radius is included. Radius isn’t possible for postcodes, states, regions or countries, which cover the whole area. “Current city only” isn’t available for social issue, election or political ads.

What is “Reach more people likely to respond to your ads”?

If you pick a city or region, this option may be checked by default. Meta then also reaches people who show interest in that place, for example by searching for it, interacting with related ads or Pages, having friends there, or living in nearby towns. Meta only adds people who live in the same country as your selection. Meta suggests turning it off if you work in a sensitive industry with strict location rules, or only want people who live in or visit the place.

FAQ

How do location exclusions work?

Meta checks both current location and home location. A person who lives in an included area can still see your ad while visiting an excluded one. Only someone whose current and home locations are both excluded won’t see your ad at all. Housing, employment and finance ads in covered regions can’t exclude locations at all.

Why does Google Analytics show clicks from outside my locations?

Meta says third-party tools may use different location methods, so their reports may not match Meta’s campaign reporting. People can also see an ad organically, which can bring likes, comments and shares from outside your locations, and Meta may show preview ads to people connected to your business. You aren’t charged for preview impressions.

Can I target a postcode for housing or job ads?

No. For housing, employment and financial products and services ads covered by Meta’s rules, you can target countries, regions, states and cities but not postcodes. Audiences based on a city, address or pin drop get an expanded radius; Meta’s example is a 15-mile radius around Seattle’s city centre.