ZIP 15088 vs ZIP 15038

This side-by-side compares ZIP 15088 (West Elizabeth, PA) and ZIP 15038 (Elrama, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 15088 has a population of 535 at 1,022 people per square mile, while ZIP 15038 has 325 at 287 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 15088 reports a median household income of $55,000 against $31,824 in ZIP 15038, with per-capita income of $28,328 vs $23,218. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 13.5% in 15088 and 4.8% in 15038. Poverty rate reads 6.6% vs 41.9%, and unemployment 8.1% vs 0.0% — 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 $82,100 in 15088 versus $97,300 in 15038, with median rent of $935 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 73.4% vs 41.6%. 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.