Winston-Salem, NC population, income and ZIP codes

Winston-Salem city is a mid-size city in North Carolina, with 250,887 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #5 of 777 ranked by population — larger than 99% of them. The median age here is 35.6 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. At this size the Census also publishes one-year estimates; the five-year values used here are steadier and let you compare against smaller neighbours on the same basis.

Households in Winston-Salem city earn a median of $57,673 a year, 26.6% below the national figure of $78,538 and 6% below the $61,228 median for the 459 North Carolina cities we cover. This figure covers the household, not the worker: two people on ordinary wages at one address outrank a single professional in the same table. Poverty reaches 17.9% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Winston-Salem city is valued at $208,200, 31.4% below the national figure and 5% below the $219,800 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,033 a month, 26.5% below the national figure, or roughly $12,396 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 21.5% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 3.6×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 54.6% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.