Population & age
- Total population
- 434
- Median age
- 55.0
Burke County · Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC · Population 434
Drexel, NC (ZIP 28619) sits in Burke County within the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metro area. The page draws on 2 federal data feeds retrieved Apr 27. Top health signal: High Blood Pressure comes in above the national average at 46.1%. NCES lists 1 schools serving the area, 1 non-charter. 9 colleges and universities serve the area, with median in-state tuition of $2,646. Local establishments report average pay of $25,052 per worker (Census ZBP) — below the US average. BLS QCEW reports average annual pay of $48,986 per worker, roughly 25% below the US average. FEMA has issued 24 federal disaster declarations affecting this ZIP since 1974 — a high-frequency exposure profile. Annual precipitation averages 51.5" — a wet-climate ZCTA per NOAA's 1991–2020 Normals. County Health Rankings reports 11,521 years of potential life lost per 100,000 (2025) — well above the national county median. Fast-food restaurants outnumber grocery stores roughly 4-to-1 per capita (USDA Food Environment Atlas) — a "food swamp" pattern often linked to higher diet-related disease prevalence. IRS migration data (2022-2023) shows a net gain of 931 residents (290 households) — the ZIP's primary county is growing. Healthcare access is the area's quieter strength; school options sit on the lighter side, so families may find themselves looking at districts a few ZIPs over. Notable: median household income $45,625, fair market rent of $950 for a two-bedroom, and a low 4.0% poverty rate. Every figure on this page links to its underlying federal dataset with a retrieval date so you can audit the freshness yourself.
Studio
$740
/month
1 Bed
$770
/month
2 Bed
$950
/month
3 Bed
$1,210
/month
4 Bed
$1,420
/month
HUD Fair Market Rents represent the 40th percentile of standard-quality rental housing in this area. FY2026 data.
New housing units permitted
422
Across 342 permitted buildings. Total construction value: $88.4M.
Single-family
322
76% of total units
Multifamily (2+ unit)
100
24% of total units
Single-family value
$81.6M
construction value
Multifamily value
$6.8M
construction value
Based on county-level data (2024).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (census.gov/construction/bps). Public domain. BPS reports annual residential building permits from local permit-issuing jurisdictions, aggregated to county. A permit reflects intent to build, not a completed unit — actual construction lags by 6-24 months for multifamily projects.
Business establishments
11
Total employment
269
Annual payroll
$6.7M
Average annual pay
$25,052
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ZIP Business Patterns (census.gov). Public domain. ZBP covers establishments with paid employees; Census suppresses employment and payroll values when fewer employers operate in a ZIP than would protect their confidentiality.
Average annual pay
$48,986
Average weekly wage
$942
Total employment
29,553
Total establishments
1,725
That is roughly 25% below the US national average of $65,470 per worker.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (bls.gov/cew). Public domain. QCEW is derived from state unemployment-insurance filings and covers ~95% of US jobs. Figures are county-level totals assigned to ZIPs whose primary county matches; small-employer cells are suppressed by BLS to protect employer confidentiality.
Unemployment rate
3.6%
That is 0.4 percentage points below the US national unemployment rate of about 4.0%.
Labor force
40,029
Employed
38,606
Unemployed
1,423
Based on Burke County, NC data (2024).
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics (bls.gov/lau). Public domain. LAUS publishes monthly and annual labor-force estimates for every US county. Figures are county-level totals assigned to ZIPs whose primary county matches.
FTA tracks transit service at the urbanized-area level. Numbers below reflect the agencies and modes serving the area that contains this ZIP, not stop-level coverage.
Service status
Available
Hickory, NC
Reporting agencies
1
Largest: Western Piedmont Regional Transit Authority
Annual ridership
—
unlinked trips · 2024
Source: U.S. Federal Transit Administration, National Transit Database (transit.dot.gov). Public domain.
Federally Declared Disasters
24
Date Range
1974–2026
Most Recent Declaration
SEVERE WINTER STORM
Winter Storm — declared January 24, 2026 (DR-3637)
Incident period: January 21, 2026 – January 27, 2026
Top Incident Types
Individual Assistance
5
Direct help to disaster survivors
Households Program
4
Housing & temporary lodging support
Public Assistance
24
Repair of public facilities & roads
Hazard Mitigation
9
Funding to reduce future disaster risk
FEMA declares disasters at the county level; counts here include every federally declared disaster touching any county that overlaps this ZIP. Statewide declarations and pre-1964 records without county granularity are excluded. Program flags reflect which FEMA assistance categories were activated (Individual Assistance, Households, Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation). Source: fema.gov/openfema. Public domain.
30-year averages (1991-2020) from the nearest GHCN-D weather station. Temperature and precipitation values reflect typical annual conditions, not any single year.
Avg. temperature
57.9°F
46.4° – 69.5°
Annual precipitation
51.5"
Annual snowfall
4.5"
Heating · cooling days
3,801.8 · 1,251.2
Annual base 65°F
Nearest station: MORGANTON, NC US, 4.3 miles from the centroid of Drexel, NC (ZIP 28619)
Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, 1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals (ncei.noaa.gov). Public domain.
Years of potential life lost (per 100K)
11,521
That is roughly 3,321 years per 100,000 above the national county median (~8,200).
Premature death is the headline composite outcome CHR reports — age-adjusted, all-cause, before age 75.
Fair or poor health
18%
of adults self-report
Poor physical health days
4.5
avg per adult per month
Poor mental health days
5.5
avg per adult per month
Uninsured
13.5%
of residents under 65
Primary care MDs
63
per 100,000 residents
Preventable hospital stays
1,879
per 100K Medicare enrollees
Food environment (0-10)
6.7
10 = best access & security
Exercise access
59%
residents near a facility
Flu vaccinated
49%
of Medicare enrollees
Low birth weight (under 2,500 g) accounts for 8.6% of live births in this county — an early-life health input that downstream outcomes track against.
Based on Burke data (2025 CHR release).
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (countyhealthrankings.org). Annual release. Underlying source datasets vary by measure (CDC BRFSS, NCHS Vital Statistics, AHA, USDA Food Environment Atlas, and others). Figures are county-level and assigned to every ZIP whose primary county matches.
Food access status
Moderate food access challenges
24.9% of Burke County, NC residents live more than 1 mile (urban) or 10 miles (rural) from the nearest supermarket.
Grocery stores
0.16
per 1,000 residents
Supercenters & clubs
—
per 1,000 residents
SNAP-authorized stores
1.17
accepting food benefits
Fast-food restaurants
0.70
per 1,000 residents
Among low-income residents, 10.0% are low-access — those without a supermarket within 1 mile (urban) or 10 miles (rural).
Per-1,000 figures show how many of each store type exist in Burke County, NC for every 1,000 residents. Higher grocery and supercenter density usually means easier access to fresh food; higher convenience-store-only density (with low grocery rate) often signals a food swamp.
Source: USDA Economic Research Service, Food Environment Atlas (ers.usda.gov). County-level metrics fanned to ZIP via the primary county in the Census ZCTA-county relationship file. Variable years differ per family (stores ~2020, low-access ~2019).
FBI publishes crime data at the county level. Numbers below cover the primary county that contains this ZIP. Rates are per 100,000 residents in the area covered by reporting agencies.
Violent crime rate
—
per 100K residents · 94 reports
Property crime rate
—
per 100K residents · 715 reports
Homicide
2
Robbery
4
Burglary
177
Vehicle theft
74
County-level data for Burke (2024)
Source: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program (cde.ucr.cjis.gov). Public domain. Coverage varies by reporting agency; areas with partial agency coverage may understate true crime totals.
Net migration (2022-2023)
▲+931 people
+290 households • +$36.2M net AGI flow
Moved in
2,735households
5,070 people • $168.8M AGI
Moved out
2,445households
4,139 people • $132.5M AGI
Where new residents came from
Where departing residents went
Incoming households reported an average AGI of $61,707 versus departing households' $54,200.
Source: U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income, Migration Data (irs.gov). Public domain. Migration is measured by year-over-year changes in the address on individual tax returns; figures are county-level totals attributed to ZIPs whose primary county matches. Foreign migration contributes to inflow/outflow totals but does not appear in the top-county lists. Small flows are suppressed by IRS to protect taxpayer confidentiality.
State-level rules that apply to every resident of ZIP 28619. Numbers reflect the most recent published year per source.
Income tax
4.25%
flat · 1 brackets
Sales tax (combined)
7.00%
State 4.75% · avg local 2.25%
Property tax (effective)
0.48%
Median $1,058/year
Tax burden rank
21 of 50
9.60% of personal income
For ZIP 28619: Applied to this ZIP's typical home value of $156,700, that works out to roughly $746/year in property tax.
Program
No program
No program
SNAP eligibility
200% FPL
Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility (raises gross income limit above federal 130% floor). No asset test.
Sources: Tax Foundation (state tax rates & brackets), Bipartisan Policy Center (paid family leave), USDA FNS (SNAP categorical eligibility).
Nearby ZIPs by distance
28690 (Valdese, 2.6 mi) · 28671 (Rutherford College, 4.5 mi) · 28655 (Morganton, 8 mi) · 28666 (Icard, 8.2 mi) · 28612 (Connelly Springs, 8.5 mi) · 28638 (Hudson, 9.3 mi)
Compare ZIP-level stats — population, schools, housing, climate — across nearby areas. Source: U.S. Census Bureau ZCTA basemap.
All data on this page is sourced from federal government datasets · Not AI-generated · Methodology
Crude prevalence estimates from CDC PLACES, derived from BRFSS small-area modeling. Population-level figures only.
36.3%
3.3pp above the 33.0% national rate.
46.1%
14.1pp above the 32.0% national rate.
25.1%
3.1pp above the 22.0% national rate.
83.7%
7.7pp above the 76.0% national rate.
11.2%
Tracks close to the 13.0% national rate.
16.0%
5.0pp above the 11.0% national rate.
1 school serves this ZIP, including 1 non-charter.
| School | Type | Grades | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hallyburton Academy | Alternative | 6–12 | 69 |
Schools listed from NCES Common Core of Data via the Urban Institute Education Data Portal.
Fresh.NCES CCD via Urban Institute EDP · Apr 27, 2026Colleges in this area
9
Median in-state tuition
$2,646
Median earnings (10 yr)
$35,853
Boone, NC · 28608
Hickory, NC · 28602
Hudson, NC · 28638
Statesville, NC · 28677
Hickory, NC · 28601
Wilkesboro, NC · 28697
Morganton, NC · 28655
Banner Elk, NC · 28604
Sugar Grove, NC · 28679
Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (collegescorecard.ed.gov). Public domain data. Earnings figures reflect median earnings 10 years after entry for federally-aided students.
Drexel, NC (ZIP 28619) sits in Burke County within the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metro area. The page draws on 2 federal data feeds retrieved Apr 27. Top health signal: High Blood Pressure comes in above the national average at 46.1%. NCES lists 1 schools serving the area, 1 non-charter. 9 colleges and universities serve the area, with median in-state tuition of $2,646. Local establishments report average pay of $25,052 per worker (Census ZBP) — below the US average. BLS QCEW reports average annual pay of $48,986 per worker, roughly 25% below the US average. FEMA has issued 24 federal disaster declarations affecting this ZIP since 1974 — a high-frequency exposure profile. Annual precipitation averages 51.5" — a wet-climate ZCTA per NOAA's 1991–2020 Normals. County Health Rankings reports 11,521 years of potential life lost per 100,000 (2025) — well above the national county median. Fast-food restaurants outnumber grocery stores roughly 4-to-1 per capita (USDA Food Environment Atlas) — a "food swamp" pattern often linked to higher diet-related disease prevalence. IRS migration data (2022-2023) shows a net gain of 931 residents (290 households) — the ZIP's primary county is growing. Healthcare access is the area's quieter strength; school options sit on the lighter side, so families may find themselves looking at districts a few ZIPs over. Notable: median household income $45,625, fair market rent of $950 for a two-bedroom, and a low 4.0% poverty rate. Every figure on this page links to its underlying federal dataset with a retrieval date so you can audit the freshness yourself.
The two domains pull in different directions. Healthcare access reads strong, but the on-paper school count is on the lighter side — that’s less a quality signal and more a density one. Households here often look at districts a few ZIPs over for school choice while keeping their providers local.
One concrete reading worth keeping: Depression prevalence sits higher the national rate at 25.1%. Each figure on this page links to the original federal dataset with its retrieval date — this synthesis is a reading, not a substitute for the underlying records.
36.3%, which is 3.3 percentage points above the national average of 33.0% (CDC PLACES, retrieved Apr 24, 2026).
25.1%, which is 3.1 percentage points above the national average of 22.0% (CDC PLACES, retrieved Apr 24, 2026).
46.1%, which is 14.1 percentage points above the national average of 32.0% (CDC PLACES, retrieved Apr 24, 2026).
1 school serves this ZIP, including 1 public school (NCES CCD, retrieved Apr 27, 2026). No charter schools are listed in this ZIP by NCES CCD.
No charter schools are listed in ZIP 28619 by NCES CCD (retrieved Apr 27, 2026).
Yes, 1 high school serves this ZIP: Hallyburton Academy. (NCES CCD, retrieved Apr 27, 2026).
434 people live in ZIP 28619, with a median age of 55.0 (Census ACS 5-Year 2022, retrieved Apr 30, 2026).
$45,625 per year (Census ACS 5-Year 2022, retrieved Apr 30, 2026).
In ZIP 28619, 49.4% of occupied housing units are owner-occupied and 50.6% are renter-occupied (Census ACS 5-Year 2022, retrieved Apr 30, 2026).
In ZIP 28619, 2.5% of workers work from home. Public transit is used by 0.0% of commuters (Census ACS 5-Year 2022, retrieved Apr 30, 2026).
4.0% of the population in ZIP 28619 lives below the federal poverty line (Census ACS 5-Year 2022, retrieved Apr 30, 2026).
62.8% of households in ZIP 28619 have broadband internet access (Census ACS 5-Year 2022, retrieved Apr 30, 2026).
As of 2022, 11 business establishments operated in ZIP 28619 employing 269 workers (Census ZIP Business Patterns, retrieved May 3, 2026).
The average annual pay across all local establishments in ZIP 28619 is $25,052, based on Census ZIP Business Patterns 2022 data (retrieved May 3, 2026).
According to the CDC Social Vulnerability Index (2022), ZIP 28619 ranks in the 57th percentile nationally for social vulnerability — a high vulnerability profile (retrieved May 3, 2026).
Housing Type & Transportation is the highest-scoring CDC SVI theme for ZIP 28619, ranking in the 70th percentile nationally (CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index 2022, retrieved May 3, 2026).
FEMA has recorded 24 federal disaster declarations affecting ZIP 28619 between 1974–2026 (FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations, retrieved May 3, 2026).
Hurricane is the most common federally declared disaster type affecting ZIP 28619, accounting for 8 of 24 declarations (33%, FEMA OpenFEMA, retrieved May 3, 2026).
The most recent FEMA disaster declaration affecting ZIP 28619 was "SEVERE WINTER STORM" — a winter storm declared in 2026 (DR-3637) (FEMA OpenFEMA, retrieved May 3, 2026).
9 colleges and universities are listed near ZIP 28619 by the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, including Appalachian State University, Catawba Valley Community College, and Caldwell Community College And Technical Institute (retrieved May 2, 2026).
Median in-state tuition across 9 nearby institutions is $2,646 (College Scorecard, retrieved May 2, 2026).
Graduates of nearby colleges earn a median of $35,853 ten years after entry (College Scorecard, retrieved May 2, 2026).
ZIP 28619 has an average annual temperature of 57.9°F and 51.5" of annual precipitation based on the MORGANTON, NC US weather station 4.3 miles from the ZIP centroid (NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, retrieved May 8, 2026).
Yes — ZIP 28619 is part of the Hickory, NC urbanized area, primarily served by Western Piedmont Regional Transit Authority (National Transit Database 2024, retrieved May 4, 2026).
North Carolina has a flat income tax with a top rate of 4.25%. Combined sales tax: 7.00% (Tax Foundation 2025).
North Carolina has no state paid family leave program (Bipartisan Policy Center 2026).
This page covers health outcomes from CDC PLACES (40 metrics), school information from NCES CCD (1 school), demographics from the Census ACS 5-Year (2022), colleges from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (9 institutions), local business & employment from Census ZIP Business Patterns (2022), social vulnerability scores from the CDC/ATSDR SVI (2022), federal disaster declarations from FEMA OpenFEMA (24 on record), climate normals from NOAA NCEI (1991-2020), county-level crime data from the FBI Crime Data Explorer (2024), public transit coverage from the National Transit Database (2024), and state-level tax rates from the Tax Foundation. Data is refreshed on Mubboo's standard schedule.
Health data retrieved Apr 24, 2026 from CDC PLACES. School data retrieved Apr 27, 2026 from NCES CCD. Demographics retrieved Apr 30, 2026 from Census ACS 5-Year (2022). College data retrieved May 2, 2026 from U.S. Dept of Education College Scorecard. Business & employment retrieved May 3, 2026 from Census ZBP (2022). Social vulnerability scores retrieved May 3, 2026 from CDC/ATSDR SVI (2022). Federal disaster declarations retrieved May 3, 2026 from FEMA OpenFEMA (24 on record). Climate normals retrieved May 8, 2026 from NOAA NCEI (1991-2020). County-level crime data retrieved May 4, 2026 from the FBI Crime Data Explorer (2024). Transit coverage retrieved May 4, 2026 from the National Transit Database (2024). State-level tax rates retrieved 2026-05-05 15:58:22.284+00 from the Tax Foundation.
Nearby ZIPs by distance
28690 (Valdese, 2.6 mi) · 28671 (Rutherford College, 4.5 mi) · 28655 (Morganton, 8 mi) · 28666 (Icard, 8.2 mi) · 28612 (Connelly Springs, 8.5 mi) · 28638 (Hudson, 9.3 mi)
Compare ZIP-level stats — population, schools, housing, climate — across nearby areas. Source: U.S. Census Bureau ZCTA basemap.
Have a specific question about ZIP 28619?
Ask Mubboo — launching Q4 2026.
Data refreshed via Mubboo's ETL pipeline; oldest source on this page retrieved Apr 24, 2026.
Social Vulnerability Index
Overall SVI
57th percentile
High Vulnerability
Based on 1 census tract, population 250
Vulnerability Themes
Households Without Vehicle
3
Limited English Speakers
1
Persons with Disability
60
Without HS Diploma
19
Without Health Insurance
32
Adults Age 65+
49
The Social Vulnerability Index uses U.S. Census data to identify communities most at risk during public health emergencies and natural disasters. Higher percentiles indicate greater vulnerability. Tract-level scores are aggregated to this ZCTA via Census 2020 ZCTA→Tract crosswalk, weighted by land-area share. Source: atsdr.cdc.gov. Public domain.