ZIP 08525 vs ZIP 08534

This side-by-side compares ZIP 08525 (Hopewell, NJ) and ZIP 08534 (Pennington, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 08525 has a population of 4,767 at 83 people per square mile, while ZIP 08534 has 12,929 at 228 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 08525 reports a median household income of $165,324 against $175,573 in ZIP 08534, with per-capita income of $82,186 vs $82,788. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 65.1% in 08525 and 70.6% in 08534. Poverty rate reads 2.2% vs 3.7%, and unemployment 1.0% vs 3.4% — 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 $572,500 in 08525 versus $573,000 in 08534, with median rent of $1,835 and $2,004 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.1% vs 88.2%. 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.