ZIP 17355 vs ZIP 17349

This side-by-side compares ZIP 17355 (Railroad, PA) and ZIP 17349 (New Freedom, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 17355 has a population of 261 at 165 people per square mile, while ZIP 17349 has 7,570 at 141 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 17355 reports a median household income of — against $120,618 in ZIP 17349, with per-capita income of $32,036 vs $53,994. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 11.9% in 17355 and 41.5% in 17349. Poverty rate reads 16.1% vs 3.6%, and unemployment 2.5% vs 3.0% — 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 $221,400 in 17355 versus $368,900 in 17349, with median rent of $1,069 and $1,640 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 36.5% vs 90.1%. 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.