ZIP 17512 vs ZIP 17554

This side-by-side compares ZIP 17512 (Columbia, PA) and ZIP 17554 (Mountville, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 17512 has a population of 17,836 at 423 people per square mile, while ZIP 17554 has 7,525 at 928 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 17512 reports a median household income of $66,684 against $98,431 in ZIP 17554, with per-capita income of $39,740 vs $44,346. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 23.7% in 17512 and 33.6% in 17554. Poverty rate reads 13.3% vs 4.9%, and unemployment 2.1% vs 3.3% — 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 $245,200 in 17512 versus $301,500 in 17554, with median rent of $1,072 and $1,396 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 65.0% vs 67.8%. 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.