ZIP 08738 vs ZIP 08735

This side-by-side compares ZIP 08738 (Mantoloking, NJ) and ZIP 08735 (Lavallette, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 08738 has a population of 1,042 at 406 people per square mile, while ZIP 08735 has 3,114 at 693 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 08738 reports a median household income of $250,001 against $76,974 in ZIP 08735, with per-capita income of $153,702 vs $81,493. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 70.7% in 08738 and 52.4% in 08735. Poverty rate reads 2.5% vs 4.8%, and unemployment 5.6% vs 3.6% — 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 $1,493,200 in 08738 versus $872,300 in 08735, with median rent of $2,094 and $2,026 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 95.3% vs 81.2%. 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.