27712Durham, North Carolina

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 27712.

68out of 100
Area Score
Top 23% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 27% of 6,210 ZIP areas measured66
Schools2988th of 4,422 ZIP areas measured38
GrowthTop 15% of 5,428 ZIP areas measured71
Housing affordability3437th of 6,685 ZIP areas measured79
ClimateTop 22% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured78
Physical resilienceTop 37% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured69
AccessTop 50% of 6,791 ZIP areas measured93
Economic stabilityTop 36% of 6,742 ZIP areas measured67
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.2% and median household income $91,331, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published ZIP profiles.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 4,643 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 33% on the prior year.

A major airport is 16 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
24,299
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$91,331
Top 26% nationally
Density
728/sq mi
33.4 sq mi of land
Median age
44.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Durham
North Carolina
Metro area
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
Nearest major airport
RDU
16 mi · Raleigh-Durham Intl
Median home value
$372,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.2% is lower than 93% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 1.7% over the past year, to 160,787 employed residents.

51% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 88% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$15,109$91,331Top 26%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$8,108$56,735Top 13%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate7.4%Bottom 33%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute27.6 minBottom 49%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher51.3%Top 12%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment160,787Top 26%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.1%Bottom 32%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.7%Bottom 29%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force166,121Top 26%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation60.9%Top 49%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$79,700Top 15%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$60,720Top 15%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.4%Bottom 25%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate3.2%Bottom 7%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202491k85k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $91,331 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 — Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Software Developers9,790$135,620
Retail Salespersons5,850$31,790
Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants5,820$46,860
Fast Food and Counter Workers5,350$29,170
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand5,250$37,750
Cashiers4,840$29,920

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 Durham, NC, the city containing this ZIP code.

28% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 43% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.2 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
5
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
28.1%
Bottom 28% in North Carolina
Reading proficiency
42.6%
Bottom 47% in North Carolina
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Riverside HighDurham Public Schools1,90020.4
George L Carrington MiddleDurham Public Schools77115.422%42%
Easley ElementaryDurham Public Schools49012.951%61%
Eno Valley ElementaryDurham Public Schools44013.313%25%
Little River ElementaryDurham Public Schools32611.629%40%

99.6% 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 North Carolina’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 3% below the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $1,655 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.1 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Cost of living
97.3

Prices here run about 3% 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
21.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,655
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$372,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index97.3Bottom 40%of 6,0712023
Home price to income4.08Top 27%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate90.2%Top 18%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±7709,768Top 17%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$182$1,655Top 17%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$16,530$372,600Top 23%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.7%Top 26%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2.2%Bottom 9%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
71/ 100
Top 15% 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 15.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
4,643
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
15.9
Top 4% nationally
Year over year
+33%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
53.2%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Durham, NC, 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 88°F and January a low of 30°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 46.7 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 51, in the Moderate band, and no day in the year passed 100.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station DURHAM 11 W, 13.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index61.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation46.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low30°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index51.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing38°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
51
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
61
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

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. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

69 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Inland floodingModerate
LightningModerate
HurricaneElevated
DroughtModerate

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

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.

Durham County records 11.6 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 19.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 13.7 per 100,000 residents in Durham County.

Homicide
11.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
19.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
13.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
14.2
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 Durham 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 27712 rather than 27712 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

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 16 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Raleigh-Durham IntlRDU16 mi10,000 ft
Piedmont Triad IntlGSO58 mi10,001 ft
Kinston Rgnl Jetport At Stallings FldISO90 mi11,498 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
68
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)
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)
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)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
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
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

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.

27712 vs Durham

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

27712
Durham
Median household income
$91,331
vs
$81,619
Per capita income
$56,735
vs
$49,636
Population density
728/sq mi
vs
2,453/sq mi
Median home value
$372,600
vs
$392,800
Median gross rent
$1,655
vs
$1,508
Homeownership rate
90.2%
vs
52.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher
51.3%
vs
57.3%
Poverty rate
7.4%
vs
11.7%
Median age
44.4
vs
35.1

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.