36879 — Auburn, Alabama

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 36879. Its median household income runs 46% above Auburn as a whole, which is why this ZIP carries a profile of its own.

76out of 100
Area Score
Top 3% of 3,113 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 11 sources
OpportunityTop 13% of 3,116 ZIP areas measured75
SchoolsTop 13% of 3,047 ZIP areas measured78
GrowthTop 6% of 3,124 ZIP areas measured78
Housing affordabilityTop 1% of 3,112 ZIP areas measured95
ClimateTop 19% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured78
Physical resilienceTop 46% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured61
Access2,806th of 3,127 ZIP areas measured68
Economic stabilityTop 15% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured75
The quick read

36879 ranks in the top 13% of ZIP areas measured for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.7% and median household income of $93,029. The unemployment rate is published for Auburn, AL, which contains 36879, rather than for 36879 alone.

Public schools test above most of the state: 73% of students met the mathematics standard, placing the area in the top 13% of published profiles for schools. Math proficiency is published for Auburn, AL, which contains 36879, rather than for 36879 alone.

1,040 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 8% of the prior year — steady rather than turning. The permit count and 1 other measure here are published for Auburn, AL, which contains 36879, rather than for 36879 alone.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
2,826
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$93,029
Top 24% nationally
Density
32/sq mi
87.1 sq mi of land
Median age
46.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Auburn
Alabama
Micro area
Nearest major airport
MGM
58 mi · Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld)
Median home value
$325,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Auburn, AL, which contains 36879, is 3.7%, lower than in 75% of the 3,127 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment across Auburn, AL, which contains 36879, fell 0.2% over the past year, to 39,460 employed residents.

41% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 80% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$24,4812024 ACS 5-Year$93,029Top 24%of 31,0492024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$8,1562024 ACS 5-Year$44,041Top 29%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year1.8%Top 7%of 32,8462024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±2.7 min2024 ACS 5-Year23.0 minTop 24%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year41.1%Top 20%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±8%2024 ACS 5-Year74.0%42nd percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentAuburn, AL’s figureJuly 202639,460Bottom 42%of 3,127July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Auburn, AL’s figureJuly 2026+3.2%Top 14%of 3,127July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Auburn, AL’s figureJuly 2026−0.2%Top 38%of 3,127July 2026
Labor forceAuburn, AL’s figureJuly 202640,97441st percentileof 3,127July 2026
Labor force participation ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year76.9%Bottom 45%of 32,8832024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year1.3%83rd percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Auburn, AL’s figureJuly 2026+0.3%Bottom 28%of 3,127July 2026
Unemployment rateAuburn, AL’s figureJuly 20263.7%Top 25%of 3,127July 2026
Worked from home ±9%2024 ACS 5-Year10.9%56th percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

2021202220232024119k93k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $93,029 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.

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.

73% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 64% in reading, across the schools here that reported results. Math proficiency and 1 other measure here are published for Auburn, AL, which contains 36879, rather than for 36879 alone.

There are 17.0 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places. The student-teacher ratio is published for Auburn, AL, which contains 36879, rather than for 36879 alone.

Public schools
—
Students per teacher
17.0
Math proficiency
72.8%
Top 9% in Alabama
Reading proficiency
63.9%
Top 12% in Alabama

The proficiency and staffing figures above are for Auburn, AL: too few schools in 36879 reported a usable figure on their own to weight one honestly.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Alabama’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama is up 50% over five years, and up 5.2% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $1,347 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.41% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,002, some 31% above the $764 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,002 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $40,100 a year, about 43% of the median household income here of $93,029.

The typical renter household here spends 16% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $764 a month.

A median home at $325,900 costs 3.5 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $94,038, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Rent as a share of income
16.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.5×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,002
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$764
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$325,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against 36879’s median household income of $93,029, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama’s figure2026 Q2+5.2%82nd percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama’s figure2026 Q2+49.8%73rd percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama’s figure2026 Q2+89.5%41st percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price to income ±12024 ACS 5-Year3.5Bottom 27%of 29,2752024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year90.7%83rd percentileof 32,7502024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±1792024 ACS 5-Year1,02645th percentileof 33,4602024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$770Top 6%of 3,031FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,265Top 7%of 3,031FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,002Top 9%of 3,031FY2026
Median gross rent ±$4002024 ACS 5-Year$764Top 19%of 26,3962024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$67,6772024 ACS 5-Year$325,90071st percentileof 30,8122024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$2132024 ACS 5-Year$1,34731st percentileof 28,9352024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$26,2612024 ACS 5-Year$94,038Top 36%of 29,8022024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.11%2024 ACS 5-Year0.41%7th percentileof 24,0992024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year16.1%Top 6%of 26,2472024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±122024 ACS 5-Year939th percentileof 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.9%48th percentileof 32,9612024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year1.8%13th percentileof 32,7882024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±282024 ACS 5-Year2718th percentileof 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures.

Development Momentum

78/ 100
Top 6% of 3,124 published ZIP 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. The permit rate is published for Auburn, AL, which contains 36879, rather than for 36879 alone.

Units permitted
1,040
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
12.9
Top 8% 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

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 33°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 55.2 inches.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station OPELIKA, 7.5 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND5.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals55.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals0.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals33°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals35°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

61 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and heat wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 55% of it. Heat wave is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

HurricaneModerate
LightningModerate
TornadoModerate
Inland floodingModerate
EarthquakeModerate
DroughtModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, wildfire, hail, strong wind, ice storm, landslide, cold wave, winter weather, tsunami, volcanic activity, coastal flooding, avalanche.

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 offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Homicide
10.7
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
23.8
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
8.4
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
16.9
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around 36879 (Chambers County) rather than 36879 itself. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. A ZIP area is not a jurisdiction, so no department reports for one. Auburn carries the figure where its department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld) at 58 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year78.2%Bottom 14%of 32,6632024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle58 miBottom 9%of 3,127NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle4Bottom 40%of 3,127NASR current cycle
No internet access ±16%2024 ACS 5-Year21.7%Bottom 9%of 32,6632024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld)MGM58 mi9,020 ft
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta IntlATL90 mi12,390 ft
Birmingham-Shuttlesworth IntlBHM90 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
76
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.

36879 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 — a gap here is a real difference between the two places, not two surveys disagreeing.

36879
Auburn
Median household income: 36879 is the more favorable of the two.
Median household income
$93,029
vs
$63,668
Per capita income: 36879 is the more favorable of the two.
Per capita income
$44,041
vs
$37,018
Population density
32/sq mi
vs
1,280/sq mi
Median home value
$325,900
vs
$364,800
Median gross rent: 36879 is the more favorable of the two.
Median gross rent
$764
vs
$1,098
Homeownership rate
90.7%
vs
53.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher: Auburn is the more favorable of the two.
Bachelor's degree or higher
41.1%
vs
64.1%
Poverty rate: 36879 is the more favorable of the two.
Poverty rate
1.8%
vs
11.1%
Median age
46.8
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.