GetZips
ZIP Code27946

Hobbsville, NC

Gates County · North Carolina · United States
Home to 1,027 people across 43.751 square miles.

EasternOwner-majority7 ZIPs in county

At a glance

27946 by the numbers

Every figure below comes from the 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the Census Gazetteer, or is computed from those. Margins of error are shown where they matter.

Population
1,027
±345 · 32th pctile nationally
Median household income
$74,485
US median $70,109 · 57th pctile
Median home value
$198,600
US median $207,500 · 47th pctile
Median age
56.3
US median 42 years
Population density
23/mi²
28th pctile most dense
Land area
43.751 mi²
negligible water area

Location

Where 27946 is

36.364231, -76.590231 · Census ZCTA internal pointOpen larger map →
Coordinates36.364231, -76.590231
Time zoneAmerica/New_York
CountyGates County
StateNorth Carolina (NC)
Land area43.751 mi²
Coordinate sourceCensus ZCTA internal point

Local time

America/New_York

—:—:—

Current weather

Live from the National Weather Service

Loading forecast…

Distance to major cities

Straight-line, computed from coordinates

Philadelphia, PA259.7 mi
New York, NY331.3 mi
Atlanta, GA476.4 mi
Boston, MA508.6 mi

People

Who lives in 27946

1,027 residents in 494 households, averaging 2.08 people per household. The largest age group is 65+ at 30.1% of residents.

Age distribution

Share of residents by age band

Under 1812.4%
18-247.2%
25-3411.0%
35-445.1%
45-5413.0%
55-6421.3%
65+30.1%

Households

Composition and size

Total households494
Average household size2.08
Family households62.6%
Living alone34.8%
Median age56.3 years
Households with internet63.6%

Race & ethnicity

Census race categories. Hispanic or Latino origin is asked separately and overlaps these groups.

White81.2%
Black16.6%
Two or more2.2%

Income & work

What people earn in 27946

The median household here earns $74,485 a year, above the US median of $70,109, which puts 27946 ahead of 57% of American ZIP codes. 12.6% of residents live below the poverty line.

Compared to the US

This ZIP against the national median

Median household income$74,485
LowestHighest
Higher than 57% of all US ZIP codes.
Median household income$74,485 ±$19,855
Per capita income$42,935
Poverty rate12.6%
Unemployment rate1.2%
Labor force participation63.5%

Household income distribution

Share of households in each bracket

<$25k15.6%
$25-50k12.1%
$50-75k23.7%
$75-100k10.5%
$100-150k22.7%
$150-200k9.7%
$200k+5.7%

Educational attainment among residents 25 and older: 15.4% hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 90.6% finished high school.

Housing

Homes and rent in 27946

A typical home is valued at $198,600. This is an owner-majority area — 86.2% of occupied homes are owned, and the typical building went up in 1986.

Costs

Typical values

Median home value$198,600
Median gross rent—/mo
Median year built1986
Housing units631
Vacancy rate21.7%

Own vs. rent

Of 494 occupied units

Owner-occupied86.2%
Renter-occupied13.8%
Owner households426
Renter households68

Building types

Units by structure size

Single family55.8%
20+ units44.2%

Getting to work

How 27946 commutes

86.3% of workers drove alone, and the average one-way trip takes 40.5 minutes.

Mode of transport

Workers 16 and older

Drove alone86.3%
Carpooled13.7%

Travel time

Mean commute 40.5 minutes

<10 min10.2%
10-1917.7%
20-298.2%
30-4418.5%
45-5918.5%
60+26.9%

Overview

Understanding ZIP code 27946

ZIP code 27946 is assigned to Hobbsville, NC, and falls within Gates 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 1,027 people live inside it.

At 23 residents per square mile spread over 43.751 square miles, 27946 reads as a rural area. It is a sparsely populated postal code, 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 track close to the national picture. The median of $74,485 puts 27946 near the middle of the pack, ahead of 57% 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.

Living here

What life in Hobbsville looks like

Housing in 27946 costs close to the national median. A typical home is valued at $198,600 against a US median of $207,500. Ownership dominates: 86.2% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, which usually signals an established residential area with relatively low turnover.

The building stock is dominated by detached single-family houses, which account for 55.8% of housing units here. The median construction year is 1986, making the housing here from the later twentieth century. The vacancy rate of 21.7% is high, which in many places reflects seasonal or second-home use rather than abandonment.

The population skews considerably older than the national median, with a median age of 56.3 against 42 nationally. The average household holds 2.08 people, and 62.6% are family households.

Getting to work takes 40.5 minutes on average one way. The dominant mode is drove alone at 86.3% of workers.

Where to stay

Where to stay in Hobbsville, NC

27946 covers a rural area, and accommodation within the postal code itself is likely to be sparse — perhaps a country inn, a lodge or a vacation rental rather than a conventional hotel. Widening the search radius is usually the practical approach, and it also opens up more availability at short notice.

For reference, Philadelphia, PA is about 259.7 miles away in a straight line, which is worth factoring in if you are comparing a stay here against one closer to the city centre.

Availability and pricing change constantly, so the live search below will give you a more accurate picture than any figure we could publish here. It opens results for this area on Booking.com.

Book a Hotel →

Opens Booking.com in a new tab. We are not affiliated with Booking.com and receive nothing from this link.

Practical uses

What ZIP code 27946 is used for

Beyond addressing mail, 27946 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, 27946 offers a compact profile of Hobbsville: 1,027 residents, a median household income of $74,485, 15.4% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher, and an unemployment rate of 1.2%. 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. 27946 may cover parts of several distinct areas, and a single neighbourhood in Hobbsville 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.

Nearby

ZIP codes near 27946

The eight closest postal codes by centroid distance, each with its own full profile. You can also browse every North Carolina ZIP code or use the ZIP Express Lookup to search by city, county or time zone.

More in Gates County

Look up another

Search any ZIP code

Questions

Common questions about 27946

What city is ZIP code 27946 in?
27946 serves Hobbsville, North Carolina, in Gates County, United States.
What is the population of 27946?
About 1,027 people live in ZIP code 27946, according to the US Census Bureau's 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. The margin of error on that figure is ±345. That works out to roughly 23 people per square mile.
What is the average income in 27946?
The median household income in 27946 is $74,485 per year, compared with a US median of $70,109. Per capita income is $42,935. Median income is more representative than an average because it isn't skewed by a small number of very high earners.
How expensive is housing in 27946?
The median home value is $198,600 and median gross rent is — a month. 86.2% of occupied homes are owner-occupied.
Is 27946 a good place to live?
That depends on what you're looking for, but here are the facts: 15.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, the unemployment rate is 1.2%, and the median age is 56.3. The average commute is 40.5 minutes. We publish the numbers and let you weigh them.
What time zone is 27946 in?
27946 observes Eastern Time (America/New_York). This zone observes daylight saving time.
How big is ZIP code 27946?
ZIP code 27946 covers 43.751 square miles of land, per the US Census Bureau's 2023 Gazetteer files.
Is 27946 urban, suburban or rural?
By population density, 27946 reads as a rural area. It holds 23 people per square mile across 43.751 square miles of land. For reference, densities above 10,000 per square mile generally indicate an urban core, 1,000–3,000 is typically suburban, and under 200 is rural. These are rules of thumb rather than official designations — the Census Bureau classifies urban and rural areas by census block, not by ZIP code.
What is the commute like from 27946?
The average one-way commute from 27946 takes about 40.5 minutes. The most common way to travel is drove alone, used by 86.3% of workers aged 16 and over. Commute figures cover people who were employed and working outside the home during the survey period.
How many people work in 27946?
About 575 residents of 27946 are employed. Labor force participation stands at 63.5% and the unemployment rate is 1.2%. Note this counts residents by where they live, not by where they work — a ZIP with many offices can have far more jobs than employed residents.
Where should I stay when visiting 27946?
Accommodation in and around Hobbsville, NC ranges with the character of the area. See the 'Where to stay' section on this page for local context, and use the live search there for current availability and pricing.
Does 27946 cover more than one city or county?
This page lists Hobbsville as the primary place and Gates County as the county. ZIP codes follow mail delivery routes rather than municipal or county lines, so a single code can straddle boundaries, and USPS also recognises alternate acceptable city names for many codes. If you need the definitive answer for a specific street address, the USPS ZIP Code Lookup is the authority.
Can ZIP code 27946 change?
Yes. USPS adjusts ZIP codes as delivery volumes shift — codes are occasionally split, merged, retired or newly created, and boundaries move more often than most people assume. The Census Bureau's ZCTA definitions, which underpin the demographic figures on this page, are redrawn only once a decade, so the two can drift apart between censuses.

Methodology

Where this data comes from

  • Postal geography — GeoNames open postal code database (CC BY 4.0), cross-checked against the US Census Gazetteer.
  • Demographics, income, housing, commute — US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-Year Estimates, ZIP Code Tabulation Area 27946. Tables B01001, B01002, B01003, B02001, B03003, B08301, B08303, B11001, B15003, B17001, B19001, B19013, B19301, B23025, B25002, B25003, B25024, B25035, B25064, B25077, B28002.
  • Land and water area — US Census Bureau 2023 Gazetteer Files.
  • Weather — NOAA National Weather Service, fetched live in your browser.
  • Map — OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
On accuracy. ACS figures are survey estimates, not counts. The margin of error shown alongside the population figure means the true value has a 90% chance of falling in that range. For small ZIP codes the error can be large relative to the estimate — treat the direction as more reliable than the exact number. This page reports data for ZCTA 27946, the Census approximation of the USPS delivery area.