28358Lumberton, North Carolina

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 28358.

45out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 6% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity6042nd of 6,210 ZIP areas measured21
Schools4216th of 4,422 ZIP areas measured15
GrowthTop 27% of 5,428 ZIP areas measured63
Housing affordabilityTop 31% of 6,685 ZIP areas measured91
ClimateTop 33% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured74
Physical resilience5247th of 6,709 ZIP areas measured27
Access6223rd of 6,791 ZIP areas measured64
Economic stability6408th of 6,742 ZIP areas measured25
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 4.8% and the Opportunity signal places 28358 in the bottom 3%.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 123 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 105% on the prior year.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane, earthquake and strong wind.

At a glance

Population
33,071
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$48,467
Bottom 13% nationally
Density
168/sq mi
196.6 sq mi of land
Median age
36.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Lumberton
North Carolina
Metro area
Lumberton, NC
Nearest major airport
ILM
63 mi · Wilmington Intl
Median home value
$110,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.8% is lower than 35% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 2.6% over the past year, to 41,029 employed residents.

Median household income of $48,467 is below 87% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$2,472$48,467Bottom 13%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,495$27,483Bottom 19%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate25.1%Top 11%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.9 minBottom 29%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher17.1%Bottom 31%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment41,029Bottom 41%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-5.1%Bottom 3%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.6%Bottom 13%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force43,102Bottom 41%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation55.5%Bottom 32%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.8%Bottom 10%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate4.8%Top 35%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202448k41k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $48,467 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 Lumberton, NC, the city containing this ZIP code.

23% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 29% 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
22.5%
Bottom 10% in North Carolina
Reading proficiency
29.1%
Bottom 9% in North Carolina
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Lumberton Senior HighPublic Schools of Robeson County1,89416.5
Lumberton JuniorPublic Schools of Robeson County65517.212%22%
Littlefield MiddlePublic Schools of Robeson County63219.814%29%
East Robeson PrimaryPublic Schools of Robeson County55616.837%37%
Rowland Norment ElementaryPublic Schools of Robeson County49517.722%32%
L Gilbert CarrollPublic Schools of Robeson County49419.88%22%
Piney Grove ElementaryPublic Schools of Robeson County45215.619%22%
Long Branch ElementaryPublic Schools of Robeson County42818.620%25%
W H KnucklesPublic Schools of Robeson County38215.312%12%
Tanglewood ElementaryPublic Schools of Robeson County35516.947%42%
Southeastern Academy · charterSoutheastern Academy21815.669%75%

99.1% 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 $891 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.3 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
22.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$891
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$110,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.28Bottom 23%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate56.5%Bottom 13%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±38314,843Top 8%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$53$891Bottom 36%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$7,045$110,400Bottom 14%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.1%Top 25%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate14.7%Top 38%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
63/ 100
Top 27% 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.

85% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 6.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
123
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
6.5
Top 22% nationally
Year over year
+105%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
84.6%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Lumberton, 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 42.6 inches.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station LUMBERTON MUNI AP, 7.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation42.6"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

27 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and strong wind.

Strong windHigh
HurricaneElevated
EarthquakeModerate
LightningModerate
Ice stormModerate
WildfireModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: tornado, winter weather, heat wave, inland flooding, hail, drought, landslide.

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.

Robeson County records 29.0 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 34.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 33.2 per 100,000 residents in Robeson County.

Homicide
29.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
34.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
33.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
8.5
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 Robeson 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 28358 rather than 28358 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 63 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Wilmington IntlILM63 mi8,016 ft
Myrtle Beach IntlMYR64 mi9,503 ft
Raleigh-Durham IntlRDU88 mi10,000 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
45
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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.

28358 vs Lumberton

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

28358
Lumberton
Median household income
$48,467
vs
$42,877
Per capita income
$27,483
vs
$24,340
Population density
168/sq mi
vs
1,035/sq mi
Median home value
$110,400
vs
$152,600
Median gross rent
$891
vs
$866
Homeownership rate
56.5%
vs
43.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher
17.1%
vs
19.2%
Poverty rate
25.1%
vs
30.8%
Median age
36.6
vs
34.6

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.