28117Lake Norman of Iredell, North Carolina

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 28117.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 12% of 6,210 published ZIP areas76
SchoolsTop 14% of 4,422 published ZIP areas80
Housing affordability3878th of 6,685 published ZIP areas75
ClimateTop 40% of 6,789 published ZIP areas72
Physical resilienceTop 35% of 6,709 published ZIP areas70
Access4581st of 6,791 published ZIP areas87
Economic stabilityTop 27% of 6,742 published ZIP areas72
The quick read

28117 ranks in the top 12% of published ZIP profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.3% and median household income of $112,976.

Rent takes 18% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 5.4 times that income.

A typical July reaches 90°F and a typical January falls to 32°F, on thirty-year normals.

At a glance

Population
48,826
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$112,976
Top 12% nationally
Density
1,249/sq mi
39.1 sq mi of land
Median age
44.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Lake Norman of Iredell
North Carolina
Metro area
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC
Nearest major airport
CLT
25 mi · Charlotte/Douglas Intl
Median home value
$615,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.3% is lower than 91% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 0.9% over the past year, to 99,890 employed residents.

55% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 91% of measured US ZIP areas.

Household income is higher than at least 88% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,790$112,976Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,667$69,344Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate3.9%Bottom 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute28.9 minTop 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher55.4%Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment99,890Top 34%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.0%Top 50%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.9%Bottom 48%June 2026
Labor force103,325Top 35%June 2026
Labor force participation66.4%Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$68,900Top 44%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,990Bottom 46%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.4%Bottom 23%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.3%Bottom 9%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024113k99k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $112,976 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 — Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand40,540$38,850
Retail Salespersons35,150$33,580
Cashiers27,350$29,610
Fast Food and Counter Workers27,050$28,880
Registered Nurses27,010$90,620
Customer Service Representatives26,120$44,980

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 Lake Norman of Iredell, NC, the city containing this ZIP code.

67% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 68% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 19.4 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
8
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
19.4
across all schools here
Math proficiency
67.3%
Top 4% in North Carolina
Reading proficiency
68.0%
Top 6% in North Carolina
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Lake Norman HighIredell-Statesville Schools1,90523.0
Langtree Charter Academy · charterLangtree Charter Academy1,37632.063%66%
Lakeshore ElementaryIredell-Statesville Schools65815.369%67%
Lake Norman ElementaryIredell-Statesville Schools64114.974%67%
The Brawley SchoolIredell-Statesville Schools64117.887%92%
Woodland Heights ElementaryIredell-Statesville Schools59415.684%74%
Woodland Heights MiddleIredell-Statesville Schools58115.752%57%
Lakeshore MiddleIredell-Statesville Schools53115.642%52%

23.4% 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 $1,698 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.4 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
18.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,698
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$615,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income5.45Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate67.9%Bottom 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±65722,225Top 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$61$1,698Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$34,748$615,200Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.0%Top 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate12.0%Top 47%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 →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

6 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 32°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 43.6 inches, including 3.5 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 CHARLOTTE DOUGLAS AP, 24.5 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation43.6"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall3.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low32°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°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

70 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Ice stormElevated
TornadoModerate
EarthquakeModerate
LightningModerate
HurricaneModerate
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: inland flooding, strong wind, cold wave, winter weather, hail, drought, heat wave, 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. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Iredell County records 3.7 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 14.0 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 15.5 per 100,000 residents in Iredell County.

Homicide
3.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
15.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
12.5
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 Iredell 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 28117 rather than 28117 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
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences 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. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
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

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 25 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Charlotte/Douglas IntlCLT25 mi10,000 ft
Piedmont Triad IntlGSO65 mi10,001 ft
Asheville RgnlAVL93 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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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
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
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.

28117 vs Lake Norman of Iredell

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

28117
Lake Norman of Iredell
Median household income
$112,976
vs
$173,542
Per capita income
$69,344
vs
$92,512
Population density
1,249/sq mi
vs
1,238/sq mi
Median home value
$615,200
vs
$887,400
Median gross rent
$1,698
vs
$1,327
Homeownership rate
67.9%
vs
94.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher
55.4%
vs
67.2%
Poverty rate
3.9%
vs
2.5%
Median age
44.5
vs
48.3

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.