Home age in ZIP 28403, Wilmington, NC: median built 1987

Home age is not roof age, and the Census does not record replacements. ZIP 28403 in Wilmington, NC: median home built 1987; 72% of homes (14,707) are older than 25 years and 15.8% (3,226) were built since 2010, out of 20,424 homes.

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019 to 2023 (5-year estimates), retrieved October 9, 2026. Area = Census ZIP Code Tabulation Area 28403.

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Share of homes in ZIP 28403 by decade builtColumns from the pre-1940 decade on the left to 2020 and later on the right. pre-1940 6.3 percent; 1940s 4.1 percent; 1950s 8.7 percent; 1960s 7.4 percent; 1970s 9.6 percent; 1980s 18.7 percent; 1990s 17.1 percent; 2000s 12.2 percent; 2010s 14.5 percent; 2020+ 1.3 percentpre-1940: 1,293 homes, 6.3%6.3%pre-1940New Hanover County: 5.5%1940s: 846 homes, 4.1%4.1%1940sNew Hanover County: 4.0%1950s: 1,774 homes, 8.7%8.7%1950sNew Hanover County: 4.4%1960s: 1,516 homes, 7.4%7.4%1960sNew Hanover County: 5.4%1970s: 1,960 homes, 9.6%9.6%1970sNew Hanover County: 11.6%1980s: 3,818 homes, 18.7%18.7%1980sNew Hanover County: 15.0%1990s: 3,500 homes, 17.1%17.1%1990sNew Hanover County: 19.0%2000s: 2,491 homes, 12.2%12.2%2000sNew Hanover County: 18.8%2010s: 2,953 homes, 14.5%14.5%2010sNew Hanover County: 14.0%2020+: 273 homes, 1.3%1.3%2020+New Hanover County: 2.3%Built 1999 or earlier: 72% of homes (14,707)ZIP 28403, built before 2000built 2000 or laterNew Hanover County

Share of the 20,424 housing units in the ZIP, by decade built. The red marks are New Hanover County. This counts houses, not roofs: a roof is replaced several times in the life of a house, and no federal survey records when.

ZIP 28403 next to Wilmington and New Hanover County

IndicatorZIP 28403WilmingtonNew Hanover CountyRank among 1 ZIPs of Wilmington on this site
Housing units20,42461,188117,236
Median year built198719881992
Built before 198036.2%38.4%30.9%
Built before 200072%no data64.9%
Built since 201015.8%no data16.3%
Owner-occupied homes35.6%46.8%60.7%
Single-family units46.3%55.6%no data
Median home value$337,600 (+/- $20,433)$350,300$353,700
Median household income$50,988 (+/- $5,154)$63,900no data

City figures are for the Census place, county figures for the county; “no data” means the Census file does not publish that figure. Value and income are survey estimates, the plus-or-minus is the 90% margin of error.

Every decade in ZIP 28403

BuiltShare of New Hanover CountyShare of ZIPHomes in ZIP 28403
2020+2.3%1.3%273
2010s14.0%14.5%2,953
2000s18.8%12.2%2,491
1990s19.0%17.1%3,500
1980s15.0%18.7%3,818
1970s11.6%9.6%1,960
1960s5.4%7.4%1,516
1950s4.4%8.7%1,774
1940s4.0%4.1%846
pre-19405.5%6.3%1,293

Counts are Census estimates of housing units by year built (table B25034). If a roof had never been replaced, it would be 3 to 6 years old on a house from the 2020s, 17 to 26 on one from the 2000s, 37 to 46 on one from the 1980s and 87 or more on one from before 1940. Most older houses have had at least one replacement, and the Census does not record when.

What the numbers say about ZIP 28403

ZIP 28403 has 20,424 housing units: 14,707 (72%) were built before 2000, 3,226 (15.8%) in 2010 or later, and 3,818 (18.7%) in the 1980s, its largest era. The median year built is 1987 (Wilmington: 1988), so 1 years older than the city.

Housing mix and money, from the same survey: 35.6% of occupied homes are owner-occupied; 46.3% of units are single-family houses; the median owner-occupied home is valued at $337,600, give or take $20,433; median household income is $50,988, give or take $5,154; the ZIP holds 33.4% of the housing units the Census counts in Wilmington, 20,424 of them. These are survey estimates with margins of error, and for a small ZIP the margin can be wide.

Reading this for roofs, carefully: the Census records when a house was built, never when its roof was last replaced. If every roof were still the one installed with its house, 11,207 units (54.9%, built before 1990) would be past the 30-year top of the usual asphalt-shingle range, 3,500 (17.1%, the 1990s) would mostly sit past it, 2,491 (12.2%, the 2000s) would mostly be inside the 20 to 30 year window and 3,226 (15.8%, 2010 onward) would be younger than it. Most older roofs have been replaced, so treat these as the pool of houses where an old roof is possible, not as a count of old roofs.

Roof age calculator for ZIP 28403

Enter the year your house was built, and the year the roof was last replaced if you know it. It starts at the median year built for this ZIP. The share of neighbours’ homes older than yours comes from this ZIP’s own decade counts.

–years old (roof)
–of homes in ZIP 28403 are older
–vs. the ZIP median year built

Material ranges are general planning figures (the same ones as on our roof-age page), not warranties. Sun, storms, attic ventilation and installation quality move them. The decade shares assume homes were built evenly within each decade. This is not an inspection: a roofer on the roof decides.

Map: ZIP 28403 among Wilmington’s ZIP areas

Map of ZIP 28403 and nearby ZIP areas, shaded by the share of homes built before 2000ZIP 28403: 20,424 homes, 72% built before 2000, median year 198728403
  • under 20% built before 2000
  • 40 to 60%
  • 80% or more
  • Dot size = housing units. Red ring = ZIP 28403. Click a dot to open that ZIP.

Storm backdrop: New Hanover County

A ZIP is too small for its own hail record, so this is the county. FEMA’s National Risk Index rates New Hanover County Relatively High overall (96.1 of 100), Very Low for hail (21.1), Relatively Moderate for strong wind (54.6) and Relatively High for tornado (90.4). NOAA logged 14 hail reports in the county, on 9 days with hail of 1 inch or more in the full years 2014 to 2025.

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 version, county level. This product uses FEMA’s National Risk Index data but is not endorsed by FEMA.

Where to go from here

Other roofing cities near ZIP 28403: Jacksonville, NC (45 miles), Myrtle Beach, SC (68 miles), Fayetteville, NC (81 miles).

Questions

How old are the homes in ZIP 28403?

Of the 20,424 housing units, 7,389 (36.2%) were built before 1980, 14,707 (72%) before 2000 and 3,226 (15.8%) from 2010 on (Census ACS 2019 to 2023, survey estimate).

Does a house's age tell me how old its roof is in 28403?

No. ACS records the year the structure was built, not the year the roof was last replaced. With 7,389 units built before 1980 in this ZIP, many roofs are replacements rather than originals. Ask the seller for permit records or have a roofer inspect the roof.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2019 to 2023, tables B25034 (year structure built), B25035, B25003, B25024, B25077 and B19013, ZIP Code Tabulation Areas; ZIP-to-city assignment from the Census 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file (a ZIP is assigned to a city when more than half of its land area lies inside it). A ZCTA is not a USPS ZIP code: it approximates one and can differ at the edges. Public domain. The 12 ZIP-specific figures above differ from ZIP to ZIP.

Information only, not a roof inspection. Pickaroofer does not know the condition of any individual roof.