New Homes in Zebulon, NC

What is it like to live in Zebulon, NC?

Zebulon is quiet most of the week and busy on a few nights a month, when downtown fills up for concerts or the ballpark has a game. Downtown runs along Arendell Avenue, where you'll find a coffee shop, a distillery, a bar, a bagpipe maker and a few small shops. Town Hall sits at the north end of the street in a 1908 school building.

Around downtown, the Zebulon Historic District takes in more than 300 older buildings, mostly homes, on streets like Gannon Avenue, Vance Street and Horton Street. Past that ring you'll find newer subdivisions such as the neighborhoods along the Beaverdam Creek Greenway, and larger lots as you head out of town, including south into Johnston County.

Zebulon suits buyers who want a small-town setting, a walkable older downtown and more space for the money, and who are fine driving 30 minutes or more for big-city shopping, dining and work.

Is Zebulon in Wake or Johnston County?

The Town of Zebulon is in Wake County. It's Wake's easternmost town. The Census lists a small piece of town limits in Johnston County, but no one lives there.

A Zebulon mailing address is a different thing. ZIP 27597 reaches into Johnston County, and some 27597 addresses fall in Nash or Franklin County. Post office routes don't follow county lines, and the county decides the school system and the tax bill. To check any address:

1. Search it on Wake County iMAPS and turn on the corporate limits layer to see if it's inside the Town of Zebulon.
2. If it isn't in Wake, search it on Johnston County's MapClick viewer or the Johnston tax card search.
3. For schools, use the district's own tool: the WCPSS assignment lookup for Wake or the JCPS student assignment maps for Johnston.

We build on both sides of the line. The side-by-side comparison above shows what changes.

Zebulon, NC history

Zebulon was a railroad town from the start. Around 1906 the Raleigh and Pamlico Sound Railroad planned a line east from Raleigh toward Wilson. Property owners in the older town of Wakefield objected to the route, so the line moved about a mile and a half south. Two of the railroad's partners, Edgar Barbee and Falconer Arendell, formed the Zebulon Company (chartered in February 1906), bought farmland from the Horton and Whitley families and laid out streets and lots.

The town was incorporated in 1907 and named for Zebulon B. Vance, North Carolina's governor during the Civil War. A tobacco market opened in 1917 and helped the town grow until it closed during the Depression. Wakefield, which had a post office as early as 1826, lost residents and businesses to Zebulon over the years, and Zebulon annexed it in 1997.

What you can still see:

• Wakelon School (1908), at 1003 N. Arendell Ave. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and now serves as Zebulon Town Hall after the town bought it back in 2007.
• The Zebulon Historic District, listed on the National Register in August 2022. It covers nearly 160 acres around North Arendell Avenue, with 316 contributing buildings dating from 1906 to 1972.
• The George and Neva Barbee House at 216 W. Gannon Ave., also on the National Register.
• The Little River Dam at Little River Park, the site of Moore's Mill, which was running by 1868. The mill is gone, but its foundation stones and the stone dam remain.

Things to do in Zebulon, NC

Downtown on Arendell Avenue. Olde Raleigh Distillery (209 N. Arendell Ave.) makes small-batch bourbon and runs a tasting room and tours. Nearby you'll find The Fall Line bar, The Creative Cup coffee shop and MacLellan Bagpipes.

Parks and greenways. Zebulon Parks and Recreation runs six public parks and a community center:

• Zebulon Community Park (401 S. Arendell Ave.), the largest at 47.5 acres, with two athletic fields, a walking trail, basketball courts, a disc golf course, two playgrounds and a picnic shelter.
• Little River Park (1800 W. Gannon Ave.), one of the town's oldest parks, with river access, fishing and sandy banks. A $1.7 million rebuild with new trails, a shelter and restrooms, and wildflower meadows broke ground in February 2026 and is set to finish around fall 2026.
• Whitley Park (601 N. Wakefield St.), a shaded park with playgrounds, a picnic shelter and a tennis court, and Gill Street Park (600 N. Privette St.).
• Beaverdam Creek Greenway, just under a mile, linking the Taryn Meadows and Weaver's Pond neighborhoods, with a bike repair station, fitness equipment, swings and an overlook.
• Zebulon Community Center (301 S. Arendell Ave.), the former armory, with an open gym, fitness rooms and classes.

Baseball at Nomaco Park. The ballpark known for years as Five County Stadium was home to the Carolina Mudcats from 1991 through 2025, when the team moved to Wilson. In 2026 it became Nomaco Park, and the Zebulon Devil Dogz of the Coastal Plain League, a summer college league, began playing there in May. Wake Tech's baseball, softball and soccer teams are slated to play there too.

Annual events. The town's Rock the Block concert series brings free live music, food trucks and vendors to West Vance Street on Friday evenings from late summer into fall (August, September and October in 2026). Candy Cane Lane takes over Arendell Avenue on a Saturday in November with Santa visits, crafts and food trucks. Check the town events page for dates.

Day trips. Downtown Raleigh's museums and restaurants are about half an hour west. Wilson, where the old Mudcats now play as the Wilson Warbirds, is about 26 miles east.

How far is Zebulon, NC from Raleigh?

Downtown Raleigh is about 22 to 25 miles west, or roughly 30 minutes without traffic, mostly on US-64/264. Weekday rush hour adds time, so test the drive at the hour you'd leave. Census data puts the average commute for Zebulon workers at 33.4 minutes.

• Downtown Raleigh: about 22 miles, around 30 minutes
• RDU International Airport: about 33 miles, around 45 minutes
• Research Triangle Park: about 39 miles, around 50 minutes
• Downtown Durham: about 41 miles, around 55 minutes
• Clayton: about 16 miles, around 30 minutes

Drive times are estimates without traffic. GoTriangle's ZWX bus also connects downtown Zebulon with downtown Raleigh on weekdays; check GoTriangle for the current schedule.

Zebulon, NC schools

Homes inside the Town of Zebulon are in the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS). Each home is assigned to a base school by address, and assignments can change from year to year, so check any address with the WCPSS assignment lookup.

For 2026-27, our West Gannon community is assigned to Wakelon Elementary, Zebulon Middle and East Wake High. Zebulon-address homes in Johnston County, including our Winchester community, are in Johnston County Public Schools; check those addresses with the JCPS student assignment maps.

East Wake Academy, a K-12 public charter school at 821 Charter School Way in Zebulon, admits students by lottery. For college, Wake Tech's Eastern Wake campus is in nearby Wendell, off Rolesville Road.

Cost of living and property taxes in Zebulon

Inside town limits, the combined property tax rate for 2026-27 is $1.1141 per $100 of assessed value: Wake County's $0.5371 plus the Town of Zebulon's $0.577. On a $400,000 home, that's about $4,456 a year.

A Zebulon-address home in unincorporated Johnston County pays $0.625 per $100 for 2026-27 (the county's $0.51 plus a countywide 11.5-cent fire tax), or about $2,500 a year on a $400,000 home. It doesn't get town services.

In town, water and sewer service comes from Raleigh Water, which serves Zebulon under a merger with the City of Raleigh. For any home outside town limits, ask how water and sewer are provided.

Is Zebulon, NC growing?

Yes, quickly. The Census estimates Zebulon grew from 6,903 people in 2020 to 11,933 in July 2025. From 2024 to 2025 it grew about 14%, second only to neighboring Wendell among North Carolina towns with at least 5,000 residents.

• Jobs: GSK runs a large manufacturing plant on North Arendell Avenue that makes tablets, capsules and respiratory medicines. Nomaco, a foam-engineering company, is also based in Zebulon.
• Housing: In August 2025 the town approved Zebulon South, a planned neighborhood on more than 100 acres between Arendell Avenue and Wakefield Street, with a $250,000 payment toward a multi-use path into downtown.
• Parks: Zebulon Community Park Phase 1 ($6.43 million, backed by a $2.16 million Wake County hospitality tax grant approved in early 2026) will add four multipurpose fields, a playground, parking, a walking path and a second entrance.
• Ballpark: Under a 10-year lease that began in 2026, Capitol Broadcasting plans about $9 million in upgrades at Nomaco Park in 2026 and 2027, including a new field, scoreboards and lighting.
• College: Wake Tech's Eastern Wake campus in Wendell is adding an Advanced Technology Center in August 2026.

Is Zebulon, NC a good place to live?

It depends on what you want. Here are the honest pros and trade-offs.

Pros

• A real historic downtown with free concerts and holiday events
• Parks, a greenway and summer baseball close to home
• More room for the money than many towns closer to Raleigh
• A major employer in town and a straight highway run toward Raleigh

Trade-offs

• Fewer restaurants and stores than larger Triangle towns
• A 30-minute or longer drive to Raleigh, and longer to RTP or Durham
• Fast growth brings construction and busier roads
• County, tax and school details depend on exactly where a Zebulon-address home sits

New homes in Zebulon, NC

We build two kinds of homes around Zebulon, one on each side of the county line:

• West Gannon: three-story townhomes at 401 W. Gannon Ave., inside town limits in Wake County, close to downtown and on the same road as Little River Park.
• Winchester: single-family homes on homesites from about half an acre to 2.5 acres at 14866 NC-96, with a Zebulon address in unincorporated Johnston County.

Browse our floor plans, or see how nearby Clayton compares.