ZIP 08742 vs ZIP 08730

This side-by-side compares ZIP 08742 (Point Pleasant Beach, NJ) and ZIP 08730 (Brielle, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 08742 has a population of 24,405 at 1,681 people per square mile, while ZIP 08730 has 4,774 at 1,050 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 08742 reports a median household income of $123,152 against $172,250 in ZIP 08730, with per-capita income of $65,555 vs $84,616. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 53.2% in 08742 and 66.8% in 08730. Poverty rate reads 4.6% vs 1.3%, and unemployment 3.4% vs 6.6% — 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 $627,200 in 08742 versus $849,100 in 08730, with median rent of $1,884 and $2,726 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.1% vs 90.5%. 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.