ZIP code 28203

ZIP 28203 is a mid-size town in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, with 18,324 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #215 of 853 ranked by population — larger than 74% of them. The median age here is 28.5 years against 39.1 nationally, a distinctly younger profile, typical of places with students, military posts or a fast-growing family population. 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 28203 earn a median of $103,860 a year, 32.2% above the national figure of $78,538. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 9.6% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 28203 is valued at $708,600, 133.6% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,829 a month, 30.1% above the national figure, or roughly $21,948 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 21.1% 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 6.8×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 31.1% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, a renter-majority market, so rent figures matter more here than the home-value line. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

Home values sit at 6.8× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere. A median age of 28.5 means a large student or early-career population; income medians in places like this understate household resources, since many residents are supported from outside the address.

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 28203 is tabulated inside Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, one of 34 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 853 across North Carolina. This is a mid-sized suburban ZIP inside a county that is split across many delivery areas. 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 28203 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 28203 reports a median household income of $103,860, 16% above the $89,207 county median, and 66% above the $62,646 typical NC ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $708,600, 72% above the county figure and 249% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,829 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

A taxable purchase made inside 28203 carries 7.25% at the register, assembled from the Charlotte jurisdiction stack: the North Carolina state rate plus every county, municipal and special district levy that reaches this address. Because those district boundaries were drawn for schools, transit and hospital funding rather than for mail delivery, two addresses inside 28203 can legitimately fall under different totals — the rate shown here is the one that applies to the dominant jurisdiction.

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 28203 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.