The bulk polarization is a Z(2) topological invariant characterizing noninteracting systems in one dimension with chiral or particle-hole symmetries. We show that the bulk polarization can always be determined from the single-particle entanglement spectrum, even in the absence of symmetries that quantize it. In the symmetric case, the known relation between the bulk polarization and the number of virtual topological edge modes is recovered. We use the bulk polarization to compute Chern numbers in one and two dimensions, which illuminates their known relation to the entanglement spectrum. Furthermore, we discuss an alternative bulk polarization that can carry more information about the surface spectrum than the conventional one and can simplify the calculation of Chern numbers.