ZIP code 27544

ZIP 27544 is a small town in Vance County, North Carolina, with 3,991 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #468 of 853 ranked by population — larger than 45% of them. The median age here is 50.1 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in ZIP 27544 earn a median of $63,393 a year, 19.3% below the national figure of $78,538. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 14.8% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 27544 is valued at $163,400, 46.1% below the national figure, while median gross rent runs $817 a month, 41.9% below the national figure, or roughly $9,804 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 15.5% 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 2.6×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 73.6% 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.

A median age of 50.1 puts ZIP 27544 well into retirement-weighted territory, which pulls median household income down even where household wealth is high, because retirement draws are counted differently from wages.

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.

ZIP 27544 is tabulated inside Vance County, North Carolina, one of 5 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 853 across North Carolina. Population sits in the small-town band, typically one main street plus the addresses that feed into it. 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 27544 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 27544 reports a median household income of $63,393, 38% above the $45,918 county median, and close to the $62,646 typical NC ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $163,400, 20% above the county figure and 20% below the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $817 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 27544 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 27544 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.