ZIP 16822 vs ZIP 16841

This side-by-side compares ZIP 16822 (Beech Creek, PA) and ZIP 16841 (Howard, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 16822 has a population of 2,283 at 9 people per square mile, while ZIP 16841 has 5,934 at 17 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 16822 reports a median household income of $71,635 against $69,233 in ZIP 16841, with per-capita income of $35,164 vs $33,811. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.8% in 16822 and 17.6% in 16841. Poverty rate reads 11.1% vs 12.9%, and unemployment 3.8% vs 2.4% - 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 $200,000 in 16822 versus $190,200 in 16841, with median rent of $672 and $1,023 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 83.5% vs 88.2%. 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.