ZIP 11509 vs ZIP 11559

This side-by-side compares ZIP 11509 (Atlantic Beach, NY) and ZIP 11559 (Lawrence, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 11509 has a population of 2,653 at 1,216 people per square mile, while ZIP 11559 has 8,176 at 758 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 11509 reports a median household income of $168,537 against $142,830 in ZIP 11559, with per-capita income of $114,121 vs $74,020. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 64.1% in 11509 and 60.7% in 11559. Poverty rate reads 2.1% vs 5.0%, and unemployment 2.3% vs 3.2% — 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 $994,800 in 11509 versus $1,229,300 in 11559, with median rent of $3,501 and $1,926 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.3% vs 76.1%. 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.