Every ZIP code in the United States, with weather, radar, trivia and the numbers behind it. Five digits since 1963!

ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan. The codes went live on July 1, 1963.The lowest ZIP code is 00501 — the IRS in Holtsville, New York.The highest ZIP code is 99950, in Ketchikan, Alaska.Type 07734 into a calculator and turn it upside down: hELLO. It is Keansburg, New Jersey.12345 belongs to one company: General Electric in Schenectady, New York.The first digit is a region: 0 is New England and New Jersey, 9 is the West Coast, Alaska and Hawaii.Mr. ZIP, the cartoon mailman, was the mascot that sold the idea to America.ZIP+4 arrived in 1983 and can narrow a ZIP down to one side of one block.A ZIP code is a mail route, not a place: plenty of them cross county and even state lines.Play ZIP Hunt: guess the secret ZIP code of the day in six tries.
zipcodes.pro — ZIP/28602

28602

ZIP 28602 is in Hickory, North Carolina, mostly in Catawba County; area code 828; Eastern time. Hickory has 3 ZIP codes; the others are 28601 and 28603.

Type
Standard
Time zone
America/New_York
County
Catawba +1 more
Population
31,113
Coordinates
35.6735, -81.3826
☼ Live from 28602 — Hickory, NC

Weather right now

Asking the National Weather Service…

NEXRAD radar
Finding the nearest radar…
Local time: —

Where 28602 is

Approximate ZIP boundary (Census ZCTA 2020). ZIP codes are mail routes, not areas, so the shape shown is the Census tabulation area that approximates it.

★ Weird and wonderful facts about 28602
  • 🔢 Type 28602 into a pocket calculator and turn it upside down: ZOgBZ — not quite a word, sorry.
  • ➕ As a number, 28,602 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 7 × 227. Its digits add up to 18, a total 2,332 other ZIP codes share.
  • 💾In binary, the way a computer stores it: 110111110111010
  • 🏠 Its numerical neighbours: 28601 (Hickory, NC, 8 mi away) and 28603 (Hickory, NC, 5 mi away).
  • 🔄 Backwards, 28602 becomes 20682 — and that is a real ZIP code: Rock Point, MD, 308 miles away.
  • 👥 26 other ZIP codes are made of exactly the same digits (02826, 02862, 06282, 08226, 20268, 20628, …). The farthest-flung twin is 86022 in Fredonia, AZ, 1,732 miles away.
  • 🧭 Farther south than 71% of all ZIP codes, and farther east than 69%.
  • 🎯981 miles east of the geographic center of the Lower 48, near Lebanon, Kansas.
  • 🌏 Dig straight through the Earth from 28602 and you would come out at 35.67°S, 98.62°E — 1,021 miles from Perth, Australia, the nearest big city to that spot.
  • ☀Longest day of the year: 14h 35m of daylight. Shortest: 9h 44m.
  • 📏 At 70.7 square miles of land, 28602 is bigger than 69% of ZIP codes — room for about 54 Central Parks.
🌙 The sky over 28602 today
  • Working out the sun…
🌋 Shake report
  • Checking the USGS…

Source: USGS.

People and housing

Population31,113This ZIP31,113
Households12,005This ZIP12,005
Housing units13,371This ZIP13,371
Median age40.1This ZIP40.1North Carolina39.1US 38.9
Median household income$62,048This ZIP$62,048North Carolina$72,388US $80,734
Median home value$212,900This ZIP$212,900North Carolina$288,900US $332,700
Median gross rent$896This ZIP$896North Carolina$1,228US $1,413
Bachelor's degree or higher20.3%This ZIP20.3%
Mean commute21.3 minThis ZIP21.3 min
Population density440.3 / sq miThis ZIP440.3 / sq mi

Business and tax activity

Business establishments1,283This ZIP1,283
Employees26,067This ZIP26,067
Annual payroll$1,380,882,000This ZIP$1,380,882,000
Tax returns filed13,010This ZIP13,010
Total adjusted gross income$766,732,000This ZIP$766,732,000

Land area

Land area70.66 sq miThis ZIP70.66 sq mi
Water area0.47 sq miThis ZIP0.47 sq mi

Counties 28602 spans

A ZIP code is a mail route and ignores county lines. Shares are by overlapping land area.

CountyShare of this ZIP
Catawba County 80.8%
Burke County 19.2%

Other place names in 28602

Census places whose land this ZIP code overlaps. The Postal Service may accept other city names in an address, too.

ZIP codes near 28602

ZIPCityDistance
28637 Hildebran, NC 3.7 mi
28603 Hickory, NC 5.4 mi
28666 Icard, NC 5.8 mi
28667 Rhodhiss, NC 7.4 mi
28601 Hickory, NC 7.5 mi
28658 Newton, NC 8.6 mi
28168 Vale, NC 8.7 mi
28612 Connelly Springs, NC 8.8 mi
28671 Rutherford College, NC 9.7 mi
28613 Conover, NC 10.8 mi

Find every ZIP code within 10 miles of 28602 →

Questions about this ZIP code

Where is ZIP code 28602?

28602 is in Hickory, North Carolina, in Catawba County, part of the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC metropolitan area. Its published point location is 35.6735, -81.3826.

What county is 28602 in?

28602 spans 2 counties: Catawba County and Burke County. Most of it falls in Catawba County, measured by overlapping land area — the county holding the most land in a ZIP code is not always the one holding the most residents.

What area code is 28602?

Hickory uses area code 828, from NANPA's telephone records.

What time zone is 28602 in?

28602 uses America/New_York.

How many people live in 28602?

About 31,113 people live in ZIP code 28602, in 12,005 households, at 440.3 people per square mile. These are American Community Survey 5-year estimates for the ZIP Code Tabulation Area, not a headcount.

What is the median household income in 28602?

$62,048 a year, against $72,388 across North Carolina.

What ZIP codes are near 28602?

The closest are 28637 (3.7 mi), 28603 (5.4 mi), 28666 (5.8 mi), 28667 (7.4 mi) and 28601 (7.5 mi).

Is 28602 a PO Box ZIP code?

28602 is a standard ZIP code. A normal ZIP code with street delivery.

Download or cite

Cite this page

zipcodes.pro. “28602 ZIP Code — Hickory, North Carolina (Catawba County).” Data release 2026-10-12. Retrieved 2026-10-20. https://zipcodes.pro/zip/28602

Machine-readable version of these facts:

curl https://zipcodes.pro/zip/28602.json

Underlying data is public domain or openly licensed — sources, vintages and licences.