28086Kings Mountain, North Carolina

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 28086.

63out of 100
Area Score
Top 38% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity5206th of 6,210 ZIP areas measured37
SchoolsTop 32% of 4,422 ZIP areas measured65
GrowthTop 34% of 5,428 ZIP areas measured59
Housing affordabilityTop 21% of 6,685 ZIP areas measured95
ClimateTop 39% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured72
Physical resilienceTop 43% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured64
Access4260th of 6,791 ZIP areas measured89
Economic stability4972nd of 6,742 ZIP areas measured45
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 4.2% and the Opportunity signal places 28086 in the bottom 16%.

In the public schools here, 46% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 16.3 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 73 units authorized over the past twelve months, 30% below the prior year.

At a glance

Population
29,460
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$62,414
Bottom 34% nationally
Density
325/sq mi
90.5 sq mi of land
Median age
41.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Kings Mountain
North Carolina
Metro area
Shelby-Kings Mountain, NC
Nearest major airport
CLT
24 mi · Charlotte/Douglas Intl
Median home value
$207,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.2% is lower than 60% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 1.7% over the past year, to 42,004 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$6,567$62,414Bottom 34%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,896$28,604Bottom 22%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate17.6%Top 24%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute27.2 minBottom 47%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher17.5%Bottom 33%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment42,004Bottom 42%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-3.4%Bottom 9%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.7%Bottom 29%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force43,838Bottom 41%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation61.7%Top 46%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.4%Bottom 27%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate4.2%Bottom 40%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202462k53k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $62,414 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 Kings Mountain, NC, the city containing this ZIP code.

46% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 51% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.3 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
7
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
46.4%
Top 28% in North Carolina
Reading proficiency
50.6%
Top 30% in North Carolina
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Kings Mountain HighCleveland County Schools1,30518.4
Kings Mountain MiddleCleveland County Schools63117.130%56%
Kings Mountain IntermediateCleveland County Schools60119.457%52%
Bethware ElementaryCleveland County Schools54814.852%49%
West ElementaryCleveland County Schools28914.440%45%
North ElementaryCleveland County Schools27212.445%45%
East ElementaryCleveland County Schools19911.165%50%

99.0% 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 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 →

Median rent of $972 takes 19% 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
18.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$972
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$207,300
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.32Top 44%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate72.4%Bottom 34%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±57811,718Top 13%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$61$972Bottom 46%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$15,052$207,300Bottom 46%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.7%Top 43%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.0%Bottom 33%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
59/ 100
Top 34% 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.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 6.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
73
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
6.1
Top 25% nationally
Year over year
−30%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Kings Mountain, 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 33°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 43.3 inches.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station GASTONIA MUNI AP, 13.0 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation43.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low33°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing38°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

64 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, earthquake and ice storm.

Ice stormElevated
LightningModerate
EarthquakeModerate
TornadoModerate
HurricaneModerate
HailModerate
LandslideModerate
Cold waveModerate

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

Cleveland County records 5.9 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 16.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 22.7 per 100,000 residents in Cleveland County.

Homicide
5.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
16.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
22.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
14.8
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 Cleveland 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 28086 rather than 28086 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 and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. 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. 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 24 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Charlotte/Douglas IntlCLT24 mi10,000 ft
Donaldson FldGYH66 mi8,000 ft
Asheville RgnlAVL67 mi8,002 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
63
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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)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
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)
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.

28086 vs Kings Mountain

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

28086
Kings Mountain
Median household income
$62,414
vs
$49,564
Per capita income
$28,604
vs
$26,980
Population density
325/sq mi
vs
825/sq mi
Median home value
$207,300
vs
$204,100
Median gross rent
$972
vs
$959
Homeownership rate
72.4%
vs
62.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher
17.5%
vs
17.8%
Poverty rate
17.6%
vs
23.0%
Median age
41.2
vs
37.2

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.