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North Carolina · FIPS 37055

Dare ZIP codes — Dare County, North Carolina

Quick answer

Dare County is home to 37,534 residents with a median household income of $81,214 and a median home value of $425,400. 77.8% of households own their home and 7.5% of residents live below the poverty line. Looking for a Dare ZIP code? 14 ZIP code areas fall inside Dare County, North Carolina, listed in full below.

Population
37,534Dare County residents
Median household income
$81,214Past 12 months, inflation adjusted
Median home value
$425,400Owner-occupied units
Median gross rent
$1,307Rent plus utilities, monthly
Median age
48.5 yrsAll residents
Homeownership rate
77.8%Owner-occupied households

Dare County, NC in context

How this area compares with national benchmarks.

Dare County is a small city in North Carolina, with 37,534 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates. The median age here is 48.5 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in Dare County earn a median of $81,214 a year, 3.4% above the national figure of $78,538. 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 7.5% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Dare County is valued at $425,400, 40.2% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,307 a month, 7% below the national figure, or roughly $15,684 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 19.3% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 5.2×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 77.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. 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.

ZIP codes in Dare County

ZIP code tabulation areas whose land area falls mostly in Dare County.

How to read this page

What these estimates cover.

Figures are five-year rolling averages from the American Community Survey, not single-year counts, so they describe conditions across 2019-2023 ACS 5-year rather than a single date. Median home value covers owner-occupied units as valued by their owners, and median gross rent includes utilities the renter pays. Small counties carry wide margins of error; treat single-dollar differences between neighbouring counties as noise.

Source: US Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates · rates as published for 2019-2023 ACS 5-year

Cities and towns in North Carolina

Largest Census places in North Carolina by population.

Nearby counties

Other counties in North Carolina.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about this area.

What is the population of Dare County?
Dare County has 37,534 residents on Census ACS 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates.
What is the median household income in Dare County?
Median household income in Dare County is $81,214 a year, 3.4% above the national figure of $78,538.
How much does it cost to rent or buy in Dare County?
Median gross rent is $1,307 a month and the median home value is $425,400, so rent absorbs about 19.3% of median household income.
Is Dare County affordable compared with the rest of the US?
Homes cost about 5.2× the local median income here versus roughly 3.9× nationally, so Dare County is less affordable to buy in than the typical US market, and rent takes 19.3% of median income against the 30% cost-burden line.
How current is this Dare County data?
All figures come from the US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year five-year estimates. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.