23228Laurel, Virginia

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 23228.

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
Opportunity3846th of 6,210 ZIP areas measured49
Schools3526th of 4,422 ZIP areas measured28
Housing affordability4085th of 6,685 ZIP areas measured73
ClimateTop 29% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured75
Physical resilienceTop 16% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured85
AccessTop 38% of 6,791 ZIP areas measured95
Economic stabilityTop 29% of 6,742 ZIP areas measured71
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.7% and median household income $70,260, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published ZIP profiles.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 23228 in the top 16% for physical resilience.

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

At a glance

Population
36,527
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$70,260
Bottom 47% nationally
Density
3,290/sq mi
11.1 sq mi of land
Median age
36.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Laurel
Virginia
Metro area
Richmond, VA
Nearest major airport
RIC
13 mi · Richmond Intl
Median home value
$283,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.7% is lower than 78% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 2.1% over the past year, to 176,634 employed residents.

33% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 71% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$5,897$70,260Bottom 47%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,386$41,945Top 34%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate10.4%Bottom 49%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.8 minBottom 29%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher33.3%Top 29%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment176,634Top 24%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.5%Bottom 15%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.1%Bottom 16%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force183,472Top 24%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation72.3%Top 10%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$68,400Top 45%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$51,460Top 41%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.4%Top 34%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate3.7%Bottom 22%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202470k59k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $70,260 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 — Richmond, VA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers17,100$29,500
Retail Salespersons16,210$33,580
General and Operations Managers15,770$108,670
Registered Nurses15,700$93,580
Cashiers14,460$30,350
Stockers and Order Fillers12,300$37,180

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 Laurel, VA, the city containing this ZIP code.

36% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 51% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.2 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
8
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
36.1%
Bottom 25% in Virginia
Reading proficiency
51.0%
Bottom 23% in Virginia
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Hermitage HighHenrico County Public Schools1,71916.7
George H. Moody MiddleHenrico County Public Schools1,08616.762%72%
Brookland MiddleHenrico County Public Schools1,03414.227%42%
Elizabeth Holladay ElementaryHenrico County Public Schools85916.814%32%
Dumbarton ElementaryHenrico County Public Schools68416.335%44%
Maude Trevvett ElementaryHenrico County Public Schools57819.942%64%
Lakeside ElementaryHenrico County Public Schools39713.231%51%
Advanced Career Education Center at HermitageHenrico County Public Schools0

80.8% 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 Virginia’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 $1,451 takes 25% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.0 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
24.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,451
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$283,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.04Top 28%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate51.8%Bottom 10%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±64016,810Top 6%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$43$1,451Top 23%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$7,690$283,500Top 36%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income24.8%Top 15%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.3%Bottom 24%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 →

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

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 89°F and January a low of 28°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 45.8 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 41, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ASHLAND HANOVER CO MUNI AP, 6.5 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index55.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation45.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low28°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high89°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index41.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing41°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
41
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
55
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

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. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

85 / 100
Physical resilience

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

EarthquakeElevated
Ice stormModerate
HurricaneModerate
DroughtModerate
LandslideModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, winter weather, heat wave, inland flooding, strong wind, tornado, hail, coastal flooding, 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.

Henrico County records 6.3 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 10.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 14.3 per 100,000 residents in Henrico County.

Homicide
6.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
14.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
9.6
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 Henrico 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 23228 rather than 23228 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

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 13 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Richmond IntlRIC13 mi9,003 ft
Newport News/Williamsburg IntlPHF65 mi8,003 ft
Washington Dulles IntlIAD91 mi11,500 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
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
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
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

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.

23228 vs Laurel

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

23228
Laurel
Median household income
$70,260
vs
$73,609
Per capita income
$41,945
vs
$38,535
Population density
3,290/sq mi
vs
3,475/sq mi
Median home value
$283,500
vs
$283,600
Median gross rent
$1,451
vs
$1,616
Homeownership rate
51.8%
vs
51.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher
33.3%
vs
29.8%
Poverty rate
10.4%
vs
8.4%
Median age
36.6
vs
35.1

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.