ZIP 17255 vs ZIP 17239

This side-by-side compares ZIP 17255 (Shade Gap, PA) and ZIP 17239 (Neelyton, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 17255 has a population of 1,125 at 15 people per square mile, while ZIP 17239 has 203 at 9 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 17255 reports a median household income of $66,667 against $69,107 in ZIP 17239, with per-capita income of $37,526 vs $38,868. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 9.0% in 17255 and 6.6% in 17239. Poverty rate reads 12.8% vs 5.7%, and unemployment 8.6% vs 0.0% — 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 $160,500 in 17255 versus $232,100 in 17239, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 93.3% vs 100.0%. 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.