$jsonurl = "http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=$zip&sensor=false";
    $json = file_get_contents($jsonurl,0,null,null);
    $json_output = json_decode($json, true);
    for ($i = 0; $i < 5; $i++) {
        if ($json_output['results'][0]['address_components'][$i]['types'][0] == 'administrative_area_level_1') {
            return $json_output['results'][0]['address_components'][$i]['short_name'];
        }
    }

    return 0;