27534Goldsboro, North Carolina

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 27534.

50out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 16% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity5414th of 6,210 ZIP areas measured34
Schools3345th of 4,422 ZIP areas measured31
Growth3120th of 5,428 ZIP areas measured46
Housing affordabilityTop 37% of 6,685 ZIP areas measured88
ClimateTop 36% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured74
Physical resilience5137th of 6,709 ZIP areas measured30
AccessTop 49% of 6,791 ZIP areas measured93
Economic stability4616th of 6,742 ZIP areas measured49
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 4.4% and the Opportunity signal places 27534 in the bottom 13%.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane, cold wave and hail.

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

At a glance

Population
30,415
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$62,574
Bottom 34% nationally
Density
416/sq mi
73.1 sq mi of land
Median age
39.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Goldsboro
North Carolina
Metro area
Goldsboro, NC
Nearest major airport
ISO
16 mi · Kinston Rgnl Jetport At Stallings Fld
Median home value
$208,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.4% is lower than 52% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 3.1% over the past year, to 11,513 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$4,177$62,574Bottom 34%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,371$38,578Top 43%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate12.2%Top 42%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute22.9 minBottom 24%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher30.9%Top 33%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment11,513Bottom 4%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-4.9%Bottom 4%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-3.1%Bottom 6%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force12,047Bottom 4%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation60.3%Bottom 49%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$50,660Bottom 1%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$40,570Bottom 2%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.6%Bottom 15%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate4.4%Bottom 48%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202463k51k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $62,574 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 — Goldsboro, NC
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons1,460$29,960
Cashiers1,270$27,170
Home Health and Personal Care Aides1,190$38,300
Cooks, Fast Food1,110$22,510
Stockers and Order Fillers1,000$33,850
Registered Nurses950$82,740

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 Goldsboro, NC, the city containing this ZIP code.

31% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 36% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

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

Public schools
11
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
30.7%
Bottom 37% in North Carolina
Reading proficiency
36.2%
Bottom 23% in North Carolina
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Spring Creek ElementaryWayne County Public Schools80415.232%29%
Eastern Wayne HighWayne County Public Schools78119.0
Meadow Lane ElementaryWayne County Public Schools67415.346%54%
Eastern Wayne ElementaryWayne County Public Schools59721.314%27%
Tommy's Road ElementaryWayne County Public Schools54516.527%35%
Eastern Wayne MiddleWayne County Public Schools42719.422%32%
Greenwood MiddleWayne County Public Schools40216.840%39%
Wayne STEM Academy · charterWayne STEM Academy30512.7
Wayne Early / Middle College HighWayne County Public Schools23926.6
Wayne Middle / High AcademyWayne County Public Schools9215.3
Edgewood Cmty DevelopmentalWayne County Public Schools3812.7

96.2% 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 10% below the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $1,135 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.

Cost of living
89.9

Prices here run about 10% 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
21.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,135
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$208,000
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index89.9Bottom 9%of 6,0712023
Home price to income3.32Top 44%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate52.4%Bottom 11%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±69614,833Top 8%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$57$1,135Top 40%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$14,607$208,000Bottom 46%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.8%Top 26%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.6%Bottom 40%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
46/ 100
Ranks 3120 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 3.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
124
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
3.6
Top 41% nationally
Year over year
+3%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
38.7%
units in 5+ unit buildings

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

Weather & climate

6 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 35°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 52.3 inches, including 2.0 inches of snow.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station GOLDSBORO 4 SE, 4.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND7.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation52.3"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall2.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low35°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing37°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

30 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, cold wave and hail.

HurricaneElevated
HailModerate
Strong windModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, tornado, inland flooding, heat wave, lightning, ice storm, drought, earthquake, wildfire, landslide, coastal flooding.

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.

Wayne County records 11.8 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 20.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 16.0 per 100,000 residents in Wayne County.

Homicide
11.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
20.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
16.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
15.2
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 Wayne 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 27534 rather than 27534 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
Kinston Rgnl Jetport At Stallings FldISO16 mi11,498 ft
Raleigh-Durham IntlRDU62 mi10,000 ft
Wilmington IntlILM76 mi8,016 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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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
2019-20 school year; 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.

27534 vs Goldsboro

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

27534
Goldsboro
Median household income
$62,574
vs
$48,540
Per capita income
$38,578
vs
$30,497
Population density
416/sq mi
vs
1,203/sq mi
Median home value
$208,000
vs
$200,400
Median gross rent
$1,135
vs
$971
Homeownership rate
52.4%
vs
36.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher
30.9%
vs
21.0%
Poverty rate
12.2%
vs
22.8%
Median age
39.0
vs
36.8

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.