ZIP 17509 vs ZIP 19310

This side-by-side compares ZIP 17509 (Christiana, PA) and ZIP 19310 (Atglen, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 17509 has a population of 4,664 at 70 people per square mile, while ZIP 19310 has 3,066 at 91 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 17509 reports a median household income of $77,238 against $82,371 in ZIP 19310, with per-capita income of $29,798 vs $36,736. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 11.9% in 17509 and 25.9% in 19310. Poverty rate reads 13.3% vs 12.0%, and unemployment 1.7% vs 3.9% — 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 $331,600 in 17509 versus $315,700 in 19310, with median rent of $1,057 and $1,265 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 63.3% vs 82.6%. 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.