ZIP code 02863

ZIP 02863 is a mid-size town in Providence County, Rhode Island, with 22,481 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #21 of 81 ranked by population — larger than 75% of them. The median age here is 31.9 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 02863 earn a median of $45,921 a year, 41.5% below 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 22.3% of residents here, well above the 12.4% national rate, which is the single clearest signal in this dataset that median income here is carried by a narrow band of households.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 02863 is valued at $300,500, 1% below the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,118 a month, 20.5% below the national figure, or roughly $13,416 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 29.2% 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. 28.6% 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 6.5× 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 02863 is tabulated inside Providence County, Rhode Island, one of 42 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 81 across Rhode Island. 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 02863 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 02863 reports a median household income of $45,921, 50% below the $91,287 county median, and 53% below the $97,650 typical RI ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $300,500, 10% below the county figure and 21% below the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,118 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

Rhode Island charges 7% statewide, and no local sales tax is layered on top, so the state rate is the full amount collected in 02863.

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 02863 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.