ZIP 11720 vs ZIP 11784

This side-by-side compares ZIP 11720 (Centereach, NY) and ZIP 11784 (Selden, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 11720 has a population of 29,189 at 1,380 people per square mile, while ZIP 11784 has 24,655 at 1,742 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 11720 reports a median household income of $134,898 against $104,369 in ZIP 11784, with per-capita income of $48,733 vs $43,370. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 36.7% in 11720 and 29.2% in 11784. Poverty rate reads 5.2% vs 6.4%, and unemployment 6.0% vs 3.5% — 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 $518,600 in 11720 versus $460,300 in 11784, with median rent of $2,374 and $2,240 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 87.4% vs 84.0%. 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.