AreaProfile

32605Gainesville, Florida

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 32605.

62
Area Score
Top 44% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity4382nd of 6,210 published ZIP areas45
Schools2628th of 4,422 published ZIP areas44
GrowthTop 10% of 5,428 published ZIP areas74
Housing affordabilityTop 39% of 6,685 published ZIP areas87
ClimateTop 9% of 6,789 published ZIP areas85
Physical resilience4498th of 6,709 published ZIP areas43
Access5192nd of 6,791 published ZIP areas82
Economic stabilityTop 35% of 6,742 published ZIP areas68
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 6.4% and the Opportunity signal places 32605 in the bottom 29%.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 2,009 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 102% on the prior year.

Its Area Score of 62 places 32605 in the top 44% of published ZIP profiles.

At a glance

Population
24,689
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$86,714
Top 30% nationally
Density
2,515/sq mi
9.8 sq mi of land
Median age
41.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Gainesville
Florida
Metro area
Gainesville, FL
Nearest major airport
LCQ
37 mi · Lake City Gateway
Median home value
$284,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 6.4% is lower than 6% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 0.4% over the past year, to 68,324 employed residents.

65% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 95% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$7,367$86,714Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,844$49,915Top 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate7.3%Bottom 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute20.3 minBottom 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher64.6%Top 5%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment68,324Top 43%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.2%Bottom 18%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.4%Top 38%June 2026
Labor force72,964Top 43%June 2026
Labor force participation64.8%Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$59,690Bottom 17%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$47,020Bottom 20%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)1.1%Top 3%June 2026
Unemployment rate6.4%Top 6%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202487k73k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $86,714 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 — Gainesville, FL
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Registered Nurses7,470$81,870
Fast Food and Counter Workers4,780$28,280
Retail Salespersons4,220$31,830
Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other3,530$31,750
Cashiers3,090$29,710
Nursing Assistants2,890$36,990

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 Gainesville, FL, the city containing this ZIP code.

47% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 55% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 17.0 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
5
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
46.9%
Bottom 38% in Florida
Reading proficiency
55.2%
Top 42% in Florida
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
WESTWOOD MIDDLE SCHOOLALACHUA85423.147%57%
LITTLEWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLALACHUA71414.657%57%
C. W. NORTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOLALACHUA54013.844%50%
GLEN SPRINGS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLALACHUA42914.835%55%
SIATECH MYCROSCHOOL INC. · charterALACHUA9797.0

45.3% 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 Florida’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 →

Median rent of $1,623 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.3 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
22.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,623
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$284,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.29Top 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate77.9%Bottom 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±64011,390Top 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$88$1,623Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,751$284,900Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.5%Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate6.7%Bottom 31%2024 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
74/ 100
Top 10% 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.

90% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 13.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
2,009
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
13.8
Top 6% nationally
Year over year
+102%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
90.2%
units in 5+ unit buildings

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

Weather & climate

9 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 91°F and January a low of 43°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 48.3 inches.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station GAINESVILLE RGNL AP, 5.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND7.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation48.3"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall0.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low43°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months91991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing27°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

43 / 100
Physical resilience

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

LightningModerate
HurricaneElevated
WildfireElevated
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: tornado, inland flooding, heat wave, strong wind, earthquake, drought, landslide, hail, winter weather.

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.

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.

Crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. Reported crime is also easy to misread: agency participation varies year to year, and a city that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 37 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Lake City GatewayLCQ37 mi8,003 ft
St AugustineSGJ65 mi8,001 ft
Jacksonville IntlJAX70 mi10,000 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.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
62
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

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)
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)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
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)
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 29, 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.

32605 vs Gainesville

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

32605
Gainesville
Median household income
$86,714
vs
$46,195
Per capita income
$49,915
vs
$30,051
Population density
2,515/sq mi
vs
2,276/sq mi
Median home value
$284,900
vs
$247,500
Median gross rent
$1,623
vs
$1,296
Homeownership rate
77.9%
vs
37.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher
64.6%
vs
53.7%
Poverty rate
7.3%
vs
30.8%
Median age
41.5
vs
26.5

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.