ZIP code 23856

ZIP 23856 is a very small community in Brunswick County, Virginia, with 620 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #713 of 903 ranked by population — larger than 21% of them. The median age here is 57.6 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 23856 earn a median of $50,074 a year, 36.2% 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 5.6% of residents here, less than half the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 23856 is valued at $87,000, 71.3% below the national figure, while median gross rent runs $912 a month, 35.1% below the national figure, or roughly $10,944 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 21.9% 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 1.7×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so purchase prices are unusually low against local pay, the pattern in places where supply is plentiful and wage growth has been flat. 65% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. 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 57.6 puts ZIP 23856 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. With 620 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare ZIP 23856 against its county rather than against national figures.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. 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 23856 is tabulated inside Brunswick County, Virginia, one of 12 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 903 across Virginia. Fewer than 2,500 people are counted here, so the ZIP behaves like a village delivery route rather than a neighbourhood. 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 23856 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 23856 reports a median household income of $50,074, 16% below the $59,635 county median, and 31% below the $72,517 typical VA ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $87,000, 39% below the county figure and 66% below the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $912 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

Virginia charges 4.3% statewide, and local governments overlapping 23856 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 23856 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.