In Postgres 9.1. I am attempting to do a single query to get the timezone of a given postal code. I have data loaded in my database, and I am using PostGIS to store the coordinates of each postal code. Here are the two queries that I need to do in order to get the data I need: SELECT coord FROM public.postal_code WHERE postal_code = 'T1K0T4' LIMIT 1 query time: 6ms This gives me the coordinate of the center of the postal_code area. Then I use this coordinate to find which timezone it intersects: SELECT * FROM public.timezones as tz WHERE ST_Intersects(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-112 49)',4326),geom) query time: 36ms Now when I combine the 2 queries, the query time jumps to 7-8 seconds. This is my query: SELECT * FROM public.timezones as tz WHERE ST_Intersects((SELECT coord FROM taduler.postal_code WHERE postal_code = 'T1K0T4' LIMIT 1),geom) I have a spatial index on the `coord` column in the postal_code table, and also on the `geom` column in the timezone table, but it seems like it isn't being used for the subquery. Does anyone know of a better way to optimize this query? I have tried several variations of this query, like joining the tables and such, but they have all resulted in the same query speed. Output from EXPLAIN ANALYZE: Seq Scan on timezones tz (cost=8.37..167.47 rows=136 width=335547) (actual time=4606.136..7274.428 rows=1 loops=1) Filter: st_intersects($0, (geom)::geography) InitPlan 1 (returns $0) -> Limit (cost=0.00..8.37 rows=1 width=128) (actual time=0.011..0.011 rows=1 loops=1) -> Index Scan using postal_code_idx on postal_code (cost=0.00..8.37 rows=1 width=128) (actual time=0.010..0.010 rows=1 loops=1) Index Cond: ((postal_code)::text = 'T1K0T4'::text) Total runtime: 7274.448 ms EXPLAIN ANALYZE for the following query: SELECT * FROM public.timezones as tz JOIN taduler.postal_code as pc on ST_Intersects(pc.coord, tz.geom) WHERE pc.postal_code = 'T1K0T4' Output: Nested Loop (cost=0.00..174.61 rows=1 width=335714) (actual time=4870.908..7572.723 rows=1 loops=1) Join Filter: ((pc.coord && (tz.geom)::geography) AND (_st_distance(pc.coord, (tz.geom)::geography, 0::double precision, false) < 1e-05::double precision)) -> Index Scan using postal_code_idx on postal_code pc (cost=0.00..8.37 rows=1 width=167) (actual time=0.012..0.019 rows=1 loops=1) Index Cond: ((postal_code)::text = 'T1K0T4'::text) -> Seq Scan on timezones tz (cost=0.00..56.08 rows=408 width=335547) (actual time=0.002..2.795 rows=408 loops=1) Total runtime: 7572.787 ms