ZIP 17344 vs ZIP 17331

This side-by-side compares ZIP 17344 (Mc Sherrystown, PA) and ZIP 17331 (Hanover, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 17344 has a population of 3,656 at 1,767 people per square mile, while ZIP 17331 has 50,292 at 256 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 17344 reports a median household income of $65,833 against $79,488 in ZIP 17331, with per-capita income of $30,709 vs $39,956. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.8% in 17344 and 23.7% in 17331. Poverty rate reads 17.1% vs 8.5%, and unemployment 7.4% vs 5.4% — 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 $193,500 in 17344 versus $240,800 in 17331, with median rent of $1,387 and $1,198 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 56.6% vs 76.4%. 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.