ZIP 08755 vs ZIP 08701

This side-by-side compares ZIP 08755 (Toms River, NJ) and ZIP 08701 (Lakewood, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 08755 has a population of 25,302 at 610 people per square mile, while ZIP 08701 has 92,843 at 1,456 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 08755 reports a median household income of $87,575 against $64,959 in ZIP 08701, with per-capita income of $43,779 vs $23,089. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 33.2% in 08755 and 33.8% in 08701. Poverty rate reads 6.8% vs 24.8%, and unemployment 4.7% vs 5.8% — 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 $389,600 in 08755 versus $466,100 in 08701, with median rent of $1,615 and $1,774 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 82.2% vs 51.5%. 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.