ZIP 08732 vs ZIP 08740

This side-by-side compares ZIP 08732 (Island Heights, NJ) and ZIP 08740 (Ocean Gate, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 08732 has a population of 1,484 at 1,058 people per square mile, while ZIP 08740 has 2,010 at 1,754 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 08732 reports a median household income of $110,000 against $69,397 in ZIP 08740, with per-capita income of $71,870 vs $46,887. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 53.9% in 08732 and 33.5% in 08740. Poverty rate reads 1.5% vs 6.0%, and unemployment 2.3% vs 3.9% — 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 $561,200 in 08732 versus $358,000 in 08740, with median rent of $1,750 and $1,604 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 94.6% vs 82.5%. 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.