ZIP 17340 vs ZIP 21787

This side-by-side compares ZIP 17340 (Littlestown, PA) and ZIP 21787 (Taneytown, MD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 17340 has a population of 10,896 at 109 people per square mile, while ZIP 21787 has 10,693 at 72 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 17340 reports a median household income of $90,030 against $91,682 in ZIP 21787, with per-capita income of $39,990 vs $41,725. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 19.1% in 17340 and 22.2% in 21787. Poverty rate reads 9.4% vs 9.6%, and unemployment 1.5% vs 3.8% — 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 $298,000 in 17340 versus $355,000 in 21787, with median rent of $1,167 and $1,061 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 80.5% vs 78.4%. 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.