28451Leland, North Carolina

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 28451.

65out of 100
Area Score
Top 31% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 10% of 6,210 published ZIP areas77
SchoolsTop 41% of 4,422 published ZIP areas58
GrowthTop 5% of 5,428 published ZIP areas79
Housing affordability4140th of 6,685 published ZIP areas72
ClimateTop 11% of 6,789 published ZIP areas83
Physical resilience5661st of 6,709 published ZIP areas21
AccessTop 38% of 6,791 published ZIP areas95
Economic stability4235th of 6,742 published ZIP areas53
The quick read

28451 ranks in the top 10% of published ZIP profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.4% and median household income of $81,481.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane, coastal flooding and wildfire.

A major airport is 13 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
46,933
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$81,481
Top 36% nationally
Density
273/sq mi
172.2 sq mi of land
Median age
44.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Leland
North Carolina
Metro area
Wilmington, NC
Nearest major airport
ILM
13 mi · Wilmington Intl
Median home value
$351,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.4% is lower than 89% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 0.5% over the past year, to 15,555 employed residents.

36% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 75% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,353$81,481Top 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,718$44,021Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate9.4%Bottom 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute27.7 minTop 50%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher36.0%Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment15,555Bottom 11%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)8.6%Top 1%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.5%Top 41%June 2026
Labor force16,095Bottom 11%June 2026
Labor force participation57.8%Bottom 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$58,480Bottom 13%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$45,800Bottom 10%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.2%Bottom 36%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.4%Bottom 11%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202481k67k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $81,481 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 — Wilmington, NC
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons6,310$30,790
Fast Food and Counter Workers5,100$27,460
Registered Nurses5,040$80,970
Waiters and Waitresses4,920$30,610
Cashiers4,860$28,520
Cooks, Fast Food3,880$27,500

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 Leland, NC, the city containing this ZIP code.

44% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 47% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 18.0 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
5
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
18.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
43.9%
Top 32% in North Carolina
Reading proficiency
47.4%
Top 38% in North Carolina
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
North Brunswick HighBrunswick County Schools1,62018.2
Classical Charter Schools of Leland · charterClassical Charter Schools of Leland93524.060%62%
Belville ElementaryBrunswick County Schools81215.352%50%
Leland MiddleBrunswick County Schools80617.917%37%
Lincoln ElementaryBrunswick County Schools73815.744%37%

99.7% 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 $1,612 takes 24% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.3 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
23.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,612
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$351,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.31Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate82.0%Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±68421,811Top 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$91$1,612Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,627$351,500Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income23.7%Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.3%Bottom 34%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
79/ 100
Top 5% 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 30.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
908
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
30.7
Top 1% nationally
Year over year
+5%
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 Leland, NC, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

8 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 36°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 60.1 inches.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station WILMINGTON INTL AP, 12.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND8.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation60.1"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall0.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low36°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months81991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing35°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

21 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HurricaneHigh
WildfireModerate
Coastal floodingModerate
EarthquakeModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, lightning, inland flooding, tornado, heat wave, ice storm, strong wind, cold wave, landslide, drought, hail.

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.

Brunswick County records 6.9 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 17.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 17.5 per 100,000 residents in Brunswick County.

Homicide
6.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
17.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
17.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
15.0
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 Brunswick 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 28451 rather than 28451 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 13 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Wilmington IntlILM13 mi8,016 ft
Myrtle Beach IntlMYR60 mi9,503 ft
Kinston Rgnl Jetport At Stallings FldISO81 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.

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Area Score
65
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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
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)
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.

28451 vs Leland

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

28451
Leland
Median household income
$81,481
vs
$91,977
Per capita income
$44,021
vs
$50,729
Population density
273/sq mi
vs
1,042/sq mi
Median home value
$351,500
vs
$398,900
Median gross rent
$1,612
vs
$1,735
Homeownership rate
82.0%
vs
80.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher
36.0%
vs
43.7%
Poverty rate
9.4%
vs
6.1%
Median age
44.4
vs
47.3

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.