ZIP 17252 vs ZIP 17224

This side-by-side compares ZIP 17252 (Saint Thomas, PA) and ZIP 17224 (Fort Loudon, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 17252 has a population of 3,608 at 50 people per square mile, while ZIP 17224 has 1,834 at 19 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 17252 reports a median household income of $73,629 against $114,779 in ZIP 17224, with per-capita income of $32,240 vs $42,143. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 19.8% in 17252 and 16.5% in 17224. Poverty rate reads 9.6% vs 6.9%, and unemployment 8.7% vs 1.4% — 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 $202,700 in 17252 versus $303,000 in 17224, with median rent of $1,101 and $1,056 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 79.4% vs 96.9%. 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.