
Chatham County · North Carolina
ZIP code 27517
- Population
- 28,676
- Median income
- $124,821
- Median home
- $571,900
- Sales tax
- 4.75%
ZCTA residents
Household, past 12 months
Owner-occupied value
North Carolina state rate
Quick answer
ZIP 27517 sits in Chatham County, North Carolina and is home to 28,676 people. Median household income is $124,821, the median home is worth $571,900 and median gross rent is $1,518. 67.4% of households own their home, and purchases are taxed at 4.75% (North Carolina state rate).
- County
- Chatham County
- State
- North Carolina (NC)
- Area codes
- Not published
- Metro area
- Outside covered metros
FIPS 37037
853 ZIPs covered
No NANPA match for this ZIP
Rate jurisdiction used for tax
The numbers for 27517
American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZCTA.
- Population
- 28,676ZIP 27517 residents
- Median household income
- $124,821Past 12 months, inflation adjusted
- Median home value
- $571,900Owner-occupied units
- Median gross rent
- $1,518Rent plus utilities, monthly
- Median age
- 43.1 yrsAll residents
- Homeownership rate
- 67.4%Owner-occupied households
ZIP 27517 in context
How this area compares with national benchmarks.
ZIP 27517 is a small city in Chatham County, North Carolina, with 28,676 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #130 of 853 ranked by population — larger than 84% of them. The median age here is 43.1 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. 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 ZIP 27517 earn a median of $124,821 a year, 58.9% above the national figure of $78,538. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 4.8% of residents here, less than half the 12.4% national rate.
The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 27517 is valued at $571,900, 88.5% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,518 a month, 8% above the national figure, or roughly $18,216 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 14.6% 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 4.6×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 67.4% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.
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.
Reading ZIP 27517 in context
How 27517 sits inside Chatham County and North Carolina.
ZIP 27517 is tabulated inside Chatham County, North Carolina, one of 11 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 853 across North Carolina. This is a mid-sized ZIP that covers a large share of its county's addresses. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 27517 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.
Against its own county, 27517 reports a median household income of $124,821, 83% above the $68,240 county median, and 99% above the $62,646 typical NC ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $571,900, 65% above the county figure and 182% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,518 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.
North Carolina charges 4.75% statewide, and local governments overlapping 27517 may add county, city or special-district levies on top. We publish the state floor for this ZIP rather than guessing a combined figure, because ZIP boundaries and taxing-district boundaries were drawn for different purposes and do not line up.
Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 27517 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.
Sales tax in 27517
What a purchase inside this ZIP costs at checkout.
North Carolina levies 4.75% statewide, and counties, cities and special districts inside this ZIP can add their own local rate on top. Check the county page for the local component before you quote a price.
Affordability in this ZIP
Derived from the Census medians above — indicative, not an offer.
A rent burden above 30% is the federal threshold for cost-burdened households, and a price-to-income multiple above 4× is generally considered a stretched housing market. The mortgage figure is principal and interest only — taxes, insurance and HOA dues are extra.
How 27517 compares
ZIP 27517 against the median ZIP in Chatham County and across North Carolina.
| Measure | ZIP 27517 | County median | State median | vs state |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $124,821 | $68,240 | $62,646 | +99% |
| Median home value | $571,900 | $347,000 | $203,100 | +182% |
| Median gross rent | $1,518 | $1,072 | $941 | +61% |
| Population | 28,676 | 4,129 | 5,300 | +441% |
Medians are computed across the 11 ZIP areas in Chatham County and the 853 ZIP areas in North Carolina.
Statewide rank
Where this ZIP places among all 853 North Carolina ZIP areas.
- Income
- #21
- Home value
- #22
- Population
- #130
richer than 97% of 766 state ZIPs
above 97% of 763 state ZIPs
larger than 85% of 853 state ZIPs
Comparable ZIP codes
North Carolina ZIP areas with almost the same household income.
Nearby ZIP codes
Other ZIP codes filed under Chatham County.
Adjacent ZIP Codes
Other ZIP codes in Chatham County, North Carolina.
ZIP 27517 questions
Common questions about this ZIP code.
- Where is ZIP code 27517?
- ZIP 27517 lies mostly in Chatham County, North Carolina. County assignment follows the largest share of land area, so a ZIP straddling a county line is filed under its dominant county.
- What sales tax do I pay in 27517?
- North Carolina charges 4.75% statewide, plus any county, city or district rate that applies locally.
- Is 27517 expensive to live in?
- Median rent runs $1,518 a month, about 15% of median household income, and the median home is worth $571,900 — +182% against the typical North Carolina ZIP.
- Is a ZCTA the same as a postal ZIP code?
- Not exactly. The Census builds ZIP Code Tabulation Areas from the ZIP codes of addresses inside each census block, so a ZCTA can differ slightly from the USPS delivery route of the same number, and PO-box-only ZIPs have no ZCTA at all.
Keep going
Related pages for this area.
Sources & transparency
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates — 2019-2023 ACS 5-year — population, income, housing
- Census 2020 ZCTA-to-county relationship file — County assignment by largest land-area overlap
- North Carolina Department of Revenue — Sales tax rates and local add-ons
Last reviewed December 2024. Figures are published for reference and can change; verify with the source agency before filing or contracting. How we build and check this data.