ZIP 11518 vs ZIP 11557

This side-by-side compares ZIP 11518 (East Rockaway, NY) and ZIP 11557 (Hewlett, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 11518 has a population of 10,549 at 2,964 people per square mile, while ZIP 11557 has 7,823 at 1,494 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 11518 reports a median household income of $117,052 against $176,274 in ZIP 11557, with per-capita income of $66,039 vs $69,716. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 48.2% in 11518 and 70.0% in 11557. Poverty rate reads 2.6% vs 6.2%, and unemployment 3.3% vs 3.0% — 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 $588,100 in 11518 versus $776,400 in 11557, with median rent of $2,499 and $1,434 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 82.8% vs 90.4%. 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.