Norfolk, VA

ZIP code 23517 is assigned to Norfolk, VA, and falls within Norfolk (city) County. Like every US postal code, it began as a mail-routing device rather than a geographic boundary — the US Postal Service groups delivery routes under a single code so carriers and sorting equipment can process mail efficiently. Today it also serves as a practical shorthand for the area itself: roughly 4,550 people live inside it.

At 5,508 residents per square mile spread over 0.826 square miles, 23517 reads as a densely built-up area. It is a smaller postal code by population, and density shapes almost everything else on this page — how people get to work, whether they own or rent, and what housing costs.

Household earnings run below the national median. At $63,556, 23517 sits in the lower half, ahead of 39% of them. The US median for comparison is $70,109. Bear in mind that median income describes the midpoint household, not the average — it is not pulled upward by a handful of very high earners the way a mean would be.

Housing in 23517 costs well above the national median. A typical home is valued at $355,800 against a US median of $207,500, and median gross rent runs $1,397 a month. This is firmly renter territory — 75.0% of occupied homes are rented, a pattern typical of city centres, student areas and neighbourhoods with a lot of apartment stock.

The building stock is dominated by mid-sized apartment buildings, which account for 38.8% of housing units here. The median construction year is 1950, making the housing here mid-century. At 4.0%, vacancy is low — housing here is tightly held.

The population skews younger than the country as a whole, with a median age of 33.4 against 42 nationally. Households average just 1.63 people, and 60.6% consist of one person living alone — a signature of areas with a lot of studio and one-bedroom stock.

Getting to work takes 21.9 minutes on average one way. The dominant mode is drove alone at 73.9% of workers.

Beyond addressing mail, 23517 does a lot of quiet administrative work. Retailers use it to calculate shipping and sales tax at checkout. Insurers use it to set premiums, since risk profiles vary geographically. Employers and marketers use it to define service areas. Government agencies use it to route benefits and organise reporting. If you have ever been asked for a postal code by a form that clearly does not intend to send you anything, this is why.

For anyone weighing a move, 23517 offers a compact profile of Norfolk: 4,550 residents, a median household income of $63,556, 55.3% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher, and an unemployment rate of 3.5%. A handful of figures like these answer more relocation questions than most neighbourhood guides do.

One caution worth repeating: a postal code is not a neighbourhood. 23517 may cover parts of several distinct areas, and a single neighbourhood in Norfolk may be split across more than one code. Boundaries also shift as USPS adjusts delivery routes. Treat the figures here as describing a delivery area, which is what they actually measure.