ZIP 15601 vs ZIP 15642

This side-by-side compares ZIP 15601 (Greensburg, PA) and ZIP 15642 (Irwin, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 15601 has a population of 59,483 at 266 people per square mile, while ZIP 15642 has 45,286 at 395 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 15601 reports a median household income of $78,555 against $97,706 in ZIP 15642, with per-capita income of $45,073 vs $49,889. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 40.3% in 15601 and 42.1% in 15642. Poverty rate reads 9.3% vs 5.7%, and unemployment 4.4% vs 4.5% — 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 $228,000 in 15601 versus $243,800 in 15642, with median rent of $904 and $1,008 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 75.1% vs 85.2%. 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.