ZIP 08212 vs ZIP 08204

This side-by-side compares ZIP 08212 (Cape May Point, NJ) and ZIP 08204 (Cape May, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 08212 has a population of 294 at 135 people per square mile, while ZIP 08204 has 18,557 at 358 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 08212 reports a median household income of $86,125 against $82,466 in ZIP 08204, with per-capita income of $135,317 vs $53,929. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 49.3% in 08212 and 40.3% in 08204. Poverty rate reads 8.0% vs 7.7%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 4.7% - 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 $1,050,000 in 08212 versus $461,400 in 08204, with median rent of - and $1,176 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 97.6% vs 78.2%. 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.