ZIP 16344 vs ZIP 16301

This side-by-side compares ZIP 16344 (Rouseville, PA) and ZIP 16301 (Oil City, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 16344 has a population of 523 at 226 people per square mile, while ZIP 16301 has 16,321 at 59 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 16344 reports a median household income of $58,382 against $57,596 in ZIP 16301, with per-capita income of $22,929 vs $29,709. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 13.1% in 16344 and 16.9% in 16301. Poverty rate reads 24.1% vs 15.8%, and unemployment 6.9% vs 5.2% — 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 $62,500 in 16344 versus $89,800 in 16301, with median rent of $953 and $815 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.3% vs 69.8%. 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.