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ZIP Code36688

Mobile, AL

Mobile County · Alabama · United States
Home to 2,083 people across 0.972 square miles.

CentralRenter-majority54 ZIPs in county

At a glance

36688 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
2,083
±170 · 46th pctile nationally
Median household income
US median $70,109 ·
Median home value
US median $207,500 ·
Median age
20.2
US median 42 years
Population density
2,143/mi²
top 25% most dense
Land area
0.972 mi²
negligible water area

Location

Where 36688 is

30.695541, -88.187867 · Census ZCTA internal pointOpen larger map →
Coordinates30.695541, -88.187867
Time zoneAmerica/Chicago
CountyMobile County
StateAlabama (AL)
Land area0.972 mi²
Coordinate sourceCensus ZCTA internal point

Local time

America/Chicago

—:—:—

Current weather

Live from the National Weather Service

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Distance to major cities

Straight-line, computed from coordinates

Atlanta, GA306.3 mi
Houston, TX433.5 mi
Dallas, TX525.7 mi
Miami, FL594.0 mi

People

Who lives in 36688

2,083 residents in 50 households, averaging 41.66 people per household. The largest age group is 18-24 at 95.7% of residents, and 52.0% of households are a single person living alone.

Age distribution

Share of residents by age band

Under 180.4%
18-2495.7%
25-340.9%
35-441.2%
45-541.9%
55-640.0%
65+0.0%

Households

Composition and size

Total households50
Average household size41.66
Family households0.0%
Living alone52.0%
Median age20.2 years
Households with internet52.0%

Race & ethnicity

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

White54.4%
Black39.3%
Asian3.1%
Pacific Islander0.8%
Other0.8%
Two or more1.6%
Hispanic / Latino6.0%

Income & work

What people earn in 36688

Income data is suppressed for this ZIP code.

Compared to the US

This ZIP against the national median

Median household income
Median household income±—
Per capita income$4,720
Poverty rate100.0%
Unemployment rate8.3%
Labor force participation48.3%

Household income distribution

Share of households in each bracket

<$25k100.0%
$25-50k0.0%
$50-75k0.0%
$75-100k0.0%
$100-150k0.0%
$150-200k0.0%
$200k+0.0%

Educational attainment among residents 25 and older: 9.9% hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 51.9% finished high school.

Housing

Homes and rent in 36688

Housing cost data is suppressed for this ZIP code.

Costs

Typical values

Median home value
Median gross rent—/mo
Median year built2003
Housing units110
Vacancy rate54.5%

Own vs. rent

Of 50 occupied units

Owner-occupied0.0%
Renter-occupied100.0%
Owner households0
Renter households50

Building types

Units by structure size

5-19 units78.2%
20+ units21.8%

Getting to work

How 36688 commutes

44.4% of workers drove alone, and the average one-way trip takes 15.9 minutes.

Mode of transport

Workers 16 and older

Drove alone44.4%
Carpooled4.6%
Walked37.5%
Worked from home13.5%

Travel time

Mean commute 15.9 minutes

<10 min37.7%
10-1940.7%
20-294.6%
30-4414.4%
45-592.0%
60+0.7%

Overview

Understanding ZIP code 36688

ZIP code 36688 is assigned to Mobile, AL, and falls within Mobile 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 2,083 people live inside it.

At 2,143 residents per square mile spread over 0.972 square miles, 36688 reads as a suburban 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.

Living here

What life in Mobile looks like

The building stock is dominated by mid-sized apartment buildings, which account for 78.2% of housing units here. The median construction year is 2003, making the housing here relatively modern. The vacancy rate of 54.5% is high, which in many places reflects seasonal or second-home use rather than abandonment.

The population skews notably young, with a median age of 20.2 against 42 nationally. Households are relatively large at 41.66 people on average, with 0.0% classified as family households.

Getting to work takes 15.9 minutes on average one way. The dominant mode is drove alone at 44.4% of workers, while 37.5% walk, 13.5% work from home. Commute patterns are one of the better proxies for how a place actually functions day to day.

Where to stay

Where to stay in Mobile, AL

Mobile is largely suburban in character. Accommodation here skews toward mid-range chain hotels and extended-stay properties positioned near highway junctions and business parks, which suits anyone driving in or visiting for work rather than sightseeing.

For reference, Atlanta, GA is about 306.3 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 →

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Practical uses

What ZIP code 36688 is used for

Beyond addressing mail, 36688 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, 36688 offers a compact profile of Mobile: 2,083 residents, 9.9% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher, and an unemployment rate of 8.3%. 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. 36688 may cover parts of several distinct areas, and a single neighbourhood in Mobile 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 36688

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

Other ZIP codes in Mobile

Mobile is served by 34 postal codes.

More in Mobile County

Look up another

Search any ZIP code

Questions

Common questions about 36688

What city is ZIP code 36688 in?
36688 serves Mobile, Alabama, in Mobile County, United States.
What is the population of 36688?
About 2,083 people live in ZIP code 36688, according to the US Census Bureau's 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. The margin of error on that figure is ±170. That works out to roughly 2,143 people per square mile.
Is 36688 a good place to live?
That depends on what you're looking for, but here are the facts: 9.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, the unemployment rate is 8.3%, and the median age is 20.2. The average commute is 15.9 minutes. We publish the numbers and let you weigh them.
What time zone is 36688 in?
36688 observes Central Time (America/Chicago). This zone observes daylight saving time.
How big is ZIP code 36688?
ZIP code 36688 covers 0.972 square miles of land, per the US Census Bureau's 2023 Gazetteer files.
Is 36688 urban, suburban or rural?
By population density, 36688 reads as a suburban area. It holds 2,143 people per square mile across 0.972 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 36688?
The average one-way commute from 36688 takes about 15.9 minutes. The most common way to travel is drove alone, used by 44.4% 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 36688?
About 923 residents of 36688 are employed. Labor force participation stands at 48.3% and the unemployment rate is 8.3%. 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 36688?
Accommodation in and around Mobile, AL 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 36688 cover more than one city or county?
This page lists Mobile as the primary place and Mobile 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 36688 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 36688. 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 36688, the Census approximation of the USPS delivery area.