ZIP 16803 vs ZIP 16802

This side-by-side compares ZIP 16803 (State College, PA) and ZIP 16802 (University Park, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 16803 has a population of 23,685 at 377 people per square mile, while ZIP 16802 has 12,764 at 5,910 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 16803 reports a median household income of $73,532 against — in ZIP 16802, with per-capita income of $48,281 vs $3,853. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 73.1% in 16803 and 73.3% in 16802. Poverty rate reads 25.3% vs 26.7%, and unemployment 4.4% vs 10.2% — 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 $413,700 in 16803 versus — in 16802, with median rent of $1,356 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 43.9% vs 0.0%. 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.