ZIP 00715 vs ZIP 00716

This side-by-side compares ZIP 00715 (Mercedita, PR) and ZIP 00716 (Ponce, PR) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 00715 has a population of 3,656 at 179 people per square mile, while ZIP 00716 has 33,779 at 1,523 per square mile. That difference in population size and density alone reshapes how every other metric should be interpreted — a higher-income ZIP with 1,200 residents behaves very differently from one with 45,000.

On income and education, ZIP 00715 reports a median household income of $22,670 against $20,652 in ZIP 00716, with per-capita income of $11,116 vs $17,464. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 12.8% in 00715 and 35.5% in 00716. Poverty rate reads 61.8% vs 46.7%, and unemployment 4.4% vs 12.4% — these four fields alone drive most of the difference in the scorecard grades you will see for each ZIP.

Housing separates these two ZIPs further: median home value sits at $80,100 in 00715 versus $131,500 in 00716, with median rent of $660 and $599 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 76.6% vs 61.1%. When reading the comparison table below, focus on paired metrics rather than single winners — a ZIP with lower home values and lower income is not strictly "worse" if rent-to-income ratios and commute times land in the same zone. Every value is pulled from the exact same ACS table so the two columns are genuinely comparable.