ZIP code 28204

ZIP 28204 is a mid-size town in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, with 9,744 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #315 of 853 ranked by population — larger than 63% of them. The median age here is 30.7 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 28204 earn a median of $89,207 a year, 13.6% above 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 8.9% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 28204 is valued at $576,900, 90.1% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,694 a month, 20.5% above the national figure, or roughly $20,328 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 22.8% 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 6.5×, 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. 25.9% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, a renter-majority market, so rent figures matter more here than the home-value line. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

Home values sit at 6.5× 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.

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 28204 is tabulated inside Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, one of 34 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 28204 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 28204 reports a median household income of $89,207, close to the $89,207 county median, and 42% above the $62,646 typical NC ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $576,900, 40% above the county figure and 184% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,694 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

A taxable purchase made inside 28204 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 28204 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 28204 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.