Census place market profile

Direct mail in Raleigh, NC

Understand the local audience, explore differences within the city, and turn the research into a campaign plan you can share.

Estimated households

203,443

±1,758 · ACS 2020–2024, 90% MOE

Research the audience that matters to your business. Confirm actual routes or addresses before mailing.

Local planning brief

Choose the audience before borrowing a housing-market story.

Raleigh’s owner-occupied housing has a different age profile from the older industrial cities in this Atlas. Family households, income bands and housing tenure offer separate ways to frame a mailing. County permit authorizations provide construction context, but cannot identify completed homes or new-mover addresses.

Owners of detached homes

77,728

Estimated count · ±2,182 MOE (90%)

75.3% of owner-occupied homes; 83.5% statewide.

8.2 percentage points below the state estimate. Descriptive comparison; not a significance test.

Census B25032 source

Households earning $100k+

86,929

Estimated count · ±2,491 MOE (90%)

42.7% of households; 35.3% statewide.

7.4 percentage points above the state estimate. Descriptive comparison; not a significance test.

Census B19001 source

Owners of older homes

26,777

Estimated count · ±1,308 MOE (90%)

25.9% of owner-occupied homes; 32.0% statewide.

6.0 percentage points below the state estimate. Descriptive comparison; not a significance test.

Census B25036 source

A test worth planning: Choose one audience hypothesis and inspect tract-level variation. Verify actual list or route availability rather than treating county construction totals as a ready-to-mail segment.

Raleigh city, North Carolina · Census place · ACS 2020–2024. Interpretation for planning; no response forecast. Audiences overlap. Shares of owners use owner-occupied homes; family and income shares use all households. Sources and uncertainty are retained with each estimate.

01 / Choose an audience

Which audience matters to your business?

Who do you want to reach?

Home services / Raleigh

26,777

Estimated owner-occupied homes built before 1980

90% margin of error ±1,308 · ACS 2020–2024

Raleigh
25.9%
State
32.0%
United States
48.2%

Share of owner-occupied homes. Local margin ±1.4 percentage points. Local estimate is 6.0 points below the state estimate. Differences are descriptive, not tests of statistical significance.

Source and variable table: B25036

A practical test to consider

Compare an addressed owner/property list with complete-route coverage. Verify property age and ownership on the actual list before printing.

Useful for researching: Exterior maintenance, remodeling and home-service research.

Raleigh is #210 of 243 Atlas places by this audience’s share. A high concentration and a large total audience are different planning choices.

What the data cannot tell you

Built before 1980 does not establish condition, a repair need or intent to buy.

Explore within Raleigh

Loading the sourced Census tract map…

03 / Build a test

What would your first mailing look like?

Plan a mailing for Raleigh, NC. Compare formats, decide how often to mail, and work backward from your economics. Save the plan or send it with a quote request.

Mailing method

Eligible flats up to 3.3 oz; complete USPS routes, at least 200 pieces or 50 lb, up to 5,000 pieces per ZIP per day. No annual Marketing Mail permit fee. Postal rates effective July 12, 2026. View the rate source.

Costs and business assumptions

Print and list defaults are examples. Replace them with quotes. Add design, transport and permit fees where applicable. List costs here apply to every mailed piece, including repeat waves.

Contribution is revenue after the costs of fulfilling a sale, before mailing cost. The lead-to-sale percentage is your assumption. Repeat waves are repeated exposures, not additional unique households.

Your planning scenario

$510.00

1,000 pieces × 1 wave

Owners of older homes

The audience above is your research hypothesis. EDDM covers complete routes; it cannot isolate owners of older homes within a route. Verify route-level fit or compare an addressed list.

Postage
$260.00
Print / production
$200.00
List / address hygiene
$0.00
Preparation / fulfillment
$0.00
One-time + per-wave costs
$50.00

Break-even sales

6

0.60% of mailed pieces

Qualified leads required

24

At 25% lead-to-sale

Required results to cover this scenario’s cost; these are not predicted response rates. Confirm actual route or list counts and postal eligibility.

Request a quote for this plan →
Compare all three formats

EDDM Retail flat

$510.00 · 1,000 pieces per wave · 6 break-even sales

Uses $0.20 production and $0.00 list cost per mailed piece; same waves and other costs. Eligibility differs.

Addressed card

$757.00 · 1,000 pieces per wave · 8 break-even sales

Uses $0.16 production and $0.08 list cost per mailed piece; same waves and other costs. Eligibility differs.

Addressed letter

$1,047.00 · 1,000 pieces per wave · 11 break-even sales

Uses $0.45 production and $0.08 list cost per mailed piece; same waves and other costs. Eligibility differs.

How to measure the test

Choose a campaign URL, phone extension or offer code. Record mailed quantity, qualified leads, attributed sales and contribution over a defined window. Compare against a similar unmailed area or group where practical; a scan or visit alone is not a sale.

The complete local evidence

Raleigh city, North Carolina · Census place · 2024 ACS 5-year estimates (2020–2024). These survey estimates describe a market; households are not deliverable addresses.

Households and housing
MeasureEstimate± MOE (90%)
HouseholdsHouseholds · B11001203,4431,758
Owner-occupied homesOccupied housing units · B25003103,2412,432
Renter-occupied homesOccupied housing units · B25003100,2022,447
Owner-occupied shareOccupied housing units · B2500350.8%1.3%
Median owner-occupied home valueOwner-occupied housing units · B25077$415,800$7,720
Median gross rentRenter-occupied housing units paying cash rent · B25064$1,572/month$23/month
Housing unitsHousing units, including vacant units · B25034224,8531,424
Owner-occupied homes built before 1980Occupied housing units · B2503626,7771,308
Owner homes built before 1980Owner-occupied housing units · B2503625.9%1.4%
Owner-occupied detached homesOccupied housing units · B2503277,7282,182
Income and families
MeasureEstimate± MOE (90%)
Median household incomeHouseholds · B19013$85,395$2,159
Households earning $100,000 or moreHouseholds · B1900186,9292,491
Households earning $150,000 or moreHouseholds · B1900151,3341,732
Households earning below $50,000Households · B1900158,7362,682
Households with children under 18Households · B1100553,4191,482
Households with children under 18Households · B1100526.3%0.8%
People and accessibility
MeasureEstimate± MOE (90%)
ResidentsAll residents · B01003481,031391
Median ageAll residents · B0100234.7 years0.4 years
Residents under 18All residents · B0100195,4572,736
Residents age 65 and overAll residents · B0100157,0811,885
Residents age 65 and overAll residents · B0100111.9%0.4%
Bachelor's degree or higherResidents age 25 and over · B1500354%1.2%
Spanish spoken at homeResidents age 5 and over · C1600144,8462,930
Speak English less than very wellResidents age 5 and over · C160016.8%0.6%
Households without internet accessHouseholds · B280026,072810
Households with broadband subscriptionHouseholds · B2800294.7%1.3%
Mobility and work
MeasureEstimate± MOE (90%)
Residents who moved in the past yearResidents age 1 and over · B0700388,8644,119
Residents who moved in the past yearResidents age 1 and over · B0700318.7%0.9%
Owners who moved in during 2023 or laterOwner-occupied housing units · B250382,484433
Renters who moved in during 2023 or laterRenter-occupied housing units · B2503812,3091,117
Civilian unemployment rateCivilian labor force age 16 and over · B230254.4%0.5%
Commute of 60 minutes or longerWorkers age 16 and over not working from home · B083033.8%0.6%

GEOID 1600000US3755000. Retrieved 2026-10-07. Published margins of error use 90% confidence; summed and percentage margins are approximations. Percentages use the denominator shown in the dataset. Missing or suppressed values stay unavailable.

County business and construction context

Wake County, North Carolina (FIPS 37183). This county is a reference geography, not the city boundary or a postal facility service area.

Employer establishments · 2023 CBP

33,873

28,416 establishments have fewer than 20 employees. 556,250 employees reported. These are employer locations, not all businesses or a prospect list.

  • Professional, scientific and technical services: 5,909 establishments
  • Health care and social assistance: 3,720 establishments
  • Retail trade: 3,618 establishments
  • Construction: 3,294 establishments
  • Other services: 2,976 establishments
Census County Business Patterns source

Businesses without paid employees · 2024 NES

122,430

Tax-record businesses without paid employees, separate from CBP employer establishments. These county totals are not unique mailing addresses or a prospect list; they are not added to the city household audience.

Census Nonemployer Statistics source

Housing units authorized · 2025 permits

13,806

Includes 8,392 single-family units. Permit authorizations indicate planned construction; they do not count completed homes, recent movers or available mailing addresses.

Census Building Permits Survey source

Data integrity

Sources and methodology

Market data

City-level demographic figures describe Raleigh city, North Carolina (Census place, GEOID 1600000US3755000). State and national comparisons use independently published Census estimates for those geographies. Tract maps show full tracts intersecting the city, including portions outside its boundary. Estimates and 90% margins of error come from the U.S. Census Bureau 2024 ACS 5-year estimates. City data retrieved 2026-10-07. County business and construction sources retain their own years and geography.

Planning assumptions

Audience comparisons show counts and concentrations, with the relevant denominator and uncertainty. Descriptive differences do not establish statistical significance or predict campaign response. Census households and tracts are not mailing addresses or USPS routes.

The campaign planner uses USPS rates effective July 12, 2026. Printing, list, preparation and fixed costs are editable examples. Break-even results depend on your contribution and conversion assumptions; verify postal eligibility and actual quotes before mailing.