Abstract: The invention locates address indicia on digitized images of mail pieces by dividing the mail piece images into blocks; identifying rows of blocks that are adjacent along a first direction and that have similar defined image features by comparing such image features within adjacent blocks; assembling at least some of the identified rows of blocks that are adjacent along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction into address block candidate regions; and selecting the address block by scoring the various address block candidate regions on the basis of defined criteria. The criteria initially score the candidate regions based on closeness to the center of the rectangle and then reduce this initial score if an edge of the region is close to an edge of the image, the region contains a small or very high number of text rows, or the aspect ratio between the width and height of the region is high.