36832Auburn, Alabama

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 36832.

66out of 100
Area Score
Top 28% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 27% of 6,210 ZIP areas measured66
GrowthTop 6% of 5,428 ZIP areas measured78
Housing affordability6221st of 6,685 ZIP areas measured43
ClimateTop 10% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured84
Physical resilienceTop 35% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured71
Access5872nd of 6,791 ZIP areas measured72
Economic stability6405th of 6,742 ZIP areas measured25
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.7% and median household income $42,717, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published ZIP profiles.

1,040 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 8% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

Housing costs more relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 30% of median household income and the median home is 6.2 times it.

At a glance

Population
30,959
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$42,717
Bottom 8% nationally
Density
455/sq mi
68.1 sq mi of land
Median age
23.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Auburn
Alabama
Metro area
Auburn-Opelika, AL
Nearest major airport
MGM
51 mi · Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld)
Median home value
$263,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.7% is lower than 78% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 0.1% over the past year, to 39,564 employed residents.

50% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 87% of measured US ZIP areas.

Median household income of $42,717 is below 92% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$7,463$42,717Bottom 8%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,262$28,403Bottom 22%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate34.2%Top 5%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute20.8 minBottom 16%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher49.8%Top 13%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment39,564Bottom 39%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)3.9%Top 9%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.1%Top 29%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force41,105Bottom 39%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation60.3%Bottom 49%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$52,160Bottom 2%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$39,070Bottom 1%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)1.0%Top 5%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate3.7%Bottom 22%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202443k33k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $42,717 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Auburn-Opelika, AL
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,370$24,600
Retail Salespersons2,300$29,140
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators2,000$34,530
Cashiers1,820$27,940
Stockers and Order Fillers1,660$34,900
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive1,570$40,460

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Auburn, AL, the city containing this ZIP code.

There are 17.1 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
2
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Drake Middle SchoolAuburn City72018.5
Creekside Elementary SchoolAuburn City45815.3

30.0% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Alabama’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 12% below the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $1,084 takes 30% of median household income, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 6.2 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Cost of living
87.6

Prices here run about 12% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Rent as a share of income
30.5%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
6.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,084
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$263,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index87.6Bottom 3%of 6,0712023
Home price to income6.18Top 9%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate50.6%Bottom 10%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±56014,361Top 9%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$38$1,084Top 44%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$40,417$263,900Top 39%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income30.5%Top 5%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate20.7%Top 25%of 33,0282024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
78/ 100
Top 6% of 5,428 published city profiles

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

At 12.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
1,040
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
12.9
Top 7% nationally
Year over year
+8%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
26.3%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Auburn, AL, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

8 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 89°F and January a low of 35°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 56.5 inches.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station AUBURN NO.2, 7.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation56.5"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall0.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low35°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high89°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months81991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing34°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

71 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and lightning.

LightningElevated
HurricaneModerate
EarthquakeModerate
DroughtModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, inland flooding, strong wind, tornado, wildfire, hail, ice storm, landslide, winter weather, cold wave.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Lee County records 6.5 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 14.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 6.0 per 100,000 residents in Lee County.

Homicide
6.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
6.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
15.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Lee County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 36832 rather than 36832 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 51 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld)MGM51 mi9,020 ft
Dothan RgnlDHN88 mi8,500 ft
Birmingham-Shuttlesworth IntlBHM96 mi12,007 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
66
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

36832 vs Auburn

How this ZIP area compares with Auburn as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

36832
Auburn
Median household income
$42,717
vs
$63,668
Per capita income
$28,403
vs
$37,018
Population density
455/sq mi
vs
1,280/sq mi
Median home value
$263,900
vs
$364,800
Median gross rent
$1,084
vs
$1,098
Homeownership rate
50.6%
vs
53.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher
49.8%
vs
64.1%
Poverty rate
34.2%
vs
25.4%
Median age
23.5
vs
25.9

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.