ZIP code 38120

ZIP 38120 is a mid-size town in Shelby County, Tennessee, with 13,249 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #178 of 638 ranked by population — larger than 72% of them. The median age here is 45 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 38120 earn a median of $119,309 a year, 51.9% 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 7.1% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 38120 is valued at $421,500, 38.9% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,552 a month, 10.4% above the national figure, or roughly $18,624 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 15.6% 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 3.5×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 73.3% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

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 38120 is tabulated inside Shelby County, Tennessee, one of 38 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 638 across Tennessee. 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 38120 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 38120 reports a median household income of $119,309, 107% above the $57,500 county median, and 102% above the $59,143 typical TN ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $421,500, 122% above the county figure and 116% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,552 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

Tennessee charges 7% statewide, and local governments overlapping 38120 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 38120 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.