When Central Ohio houses were built, ZIP code by ZIP code

Almost everything behind a bathroom wall, the supply pipe, the drain, the wiring, the paint, follows the decade the house went up, and the pages in this library set that out era by era. This page gives the other half: how much of the housing in 36 Central Ohio ZIP codes, and in seven counties, was built in each era, with the median year built and the count of housing units, occupied or empty, lacking complete plumbing, from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey estimates for 2020 to 2024. It groups the Census Bureau's ten year-built categories into five bands and points each band at the pages that describe what a house of that era usually holds. A ZIP code's mix says nothing certain about any one house in it.

Last updated September 2026 · Figures are the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 five-year estimates, table B25034, read from its summary file on September 24, 2026 · No prices on this page; the Estimate Builder carries those · Part of the knowledge base

What the Census Bureau counts, and how this page groups it

Table B25034 of the American Community Survey, titled Year Structure Built, counts housing units, the Census Bureau's universe for it, in ten categories from built 1939 or earlier to built 2020 or later, and the bureau reports it for ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, its own approximations of postal ZIP code areas, which is what the ZIP codes below are. The figures here are the five-year estimates for 2020 to 2024, read from the bureau's table-based summary file on September 24, 2026. They are survey estimates, so each total below carries the bureau's margin of error, and a small share in a small ZIP code can move from one release to the next. The page combines the ten categories into five bands; the shares are worked out here from the bureau's counts.

The bands are chosen to meet the era pages. Housing from 1939 or earlier is the era of galvanized supply pipe and the lead service line, set out on the page on supply pipes by era. Nearly everything from before 1980 sits on the older side of the federal lead paint line, which is 1978 and falls inside the 1970 to 1979 category, so the before-1980 share slightly overstates the pre-1978 share, as the page on lead paint and asbestos explains. What the bathroom itself usually looked like in each era is on the page on bathroom styles and fixtures by era.

Thirty-six ZIP codes

The spread is wide. In 43206, 56.1 percent of the housing was built in 1939 or earlier, and 85.6 percent before 1980; 43209 and 43214 follow at 84.9 and 82.9 percent before 1980. At the other end, 43054 has 73.7 percent built in 2000 or later, 43004 69.1 percent and 43035 66.6 percent, and in each of those three less than a tenth of the housing predates 1980. Most of the rest are mixed: 43081 has 37.9 percent built before 1980 and 28.8 percent built in 2000 or later. The Census Bureau's median year built runs from 1939 or earlier in 43206, where the bureau notes that the median falls in the lowest interval of its open-ended categories, through 1955 in 43214 and 1956 in 43209, to 2005 in 43035 and 43054.

Seven counties and the state

Delaware County has the youngest housing of the seven: 50.5 percent of its housing was built in 2000 or later and 19.7 percent before 1980. Franklin County splits almost evenly, with 51.5 percent built before 1980. Madison County has the oldest mix of the seven, 55.2 percent before 1980 and 19.2 percent in 1939 or earlier, close to the state's own 19.0 percent. What the county auditors' parcel records and the permit counts add to these figures is on the county pages linked from the knowledge base.

Housing lacking complete plumbing

The same survey asks whether a home has complete plumbing facilities, and the Census Bureau's 2024 subject definitions say what that means today: hot and cold running water and a bathtub or shower, both inside the house, apartment or mobile home, though not necessarily in the same room. A flush toilet is no longer part of the definition, which is why the page on indoor plumbing history warns against setting today's figure beside the older census counts. Table B25047 counts the housing units lacking complete plumbing facilities, and the question is asked at empty units as well as occupied ones, so most of the units it counts in Central Ohio are empty; table B25048 counts occupied homes alone.

Franklin County's estimate is 6,851 housing units, plus or minus 840, about 1.2 percent of its housing, against 2.0 percent for Ohio as a whole; counting only occupied homes, it is 1,664, plus or minus 355, about 0.3 percent, against 0.4 percent for Ohio. At the ZIP code level the counts are small and the survey's margins are wide: in 21 of the 36 ZIP codes the margin of error is as large as the estimate itself or larger, so those figures cannot tell one ZIP code from another. The seven where the estimate is well clear of its margin are 43206, 416 housing units plus or minus 183, though the survey finds none among its occupied homes, 0 plus or minus 24; 43055, 411 plus or minus 159; 43130, 401 plus or minus 174; 43068, 310 plus or minus 175; 43123, 268 plus or minus 157; 43065, 242 plus or minus 140; and 43040, 111 plus or minus 59. The full ZIP code list is below.

What none of this says about a house

Scope, plainly. A share describes a ZIP code's housing as a whole, estimated from a survey; it cannot date a particular house, and a house can be older or newer than most of its neighbors. The Census Bureau's categories count when a structure was built, not when its bathroom was last remodeled or its pipes replaced, so an old house may hold a new bathroom and the reverse. The era pages describe what a house of each era usually has, and what is actually in a wall is found by opening it.

Sources

Every figure, date and quotation on this page comes from one of these documents, read on the date given. Where two of them disagree, the page says so.

• United States Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table-based summary file, table B25034 Year Structure Built, January 29, 2026; read September 2026.
• United States Census Bureau, ACS 5-year 2024, group B25034 variable labels, read September 24, 2026.
• United States Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table-based summary file, table B25035 Median Year Structure Built, read September 24, 2026.
• United States Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table-based summary file, table B25047 Plumbing Facilities for All Housing Units, read September 24, 2026.
• United States Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table B25048 Plumbing Facilities for Occupied Housing Units, for Franklin County, ZIP code 43206 and Ohio; read September 25, 2026.
• United States Census Bureau, 2024 American Community Survey Subject Definitions, Plumbing Facilities, 2025; read September 2026.
• United States Census Bureau, Notes on ACS Estimate and Annotation Values, read September 24, 2026.

Common questions