ZIP 00979 vs ZIP 00915

This side-by-side compares ZIP 00979 (Carolina, PR) and ZIP 00915 (San Juan, PR) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 00979 has a population of 17,030 at 4,208 people per square mile, while ZIP 00915 has 32,820 at 9,074 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 00979 reports a median household income of $40,049 against $16,590 in ZIP 00915, with per-capita income of $36,566 vs $12,051. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 52.2% in 00979 and 14.9% in 00915. Poverty rate reads 21.6% vs 63.6%, and unemployment 8.6% vs 19.3% — 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 $189,900 in 00979 versus $110,000 in 00915, with median rent of $955 and $532 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 66.4% vs 40.7%. 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.