ZIP 17538 vs ZIP 17554

This side-by-side compares ZIP 17538 (Landisville, 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 17538 has a population of 6,045 at 608 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 17538 reports a median household income of $86,719 against $98,431 in ZIP 17554, with per-capita income of $51,382 vs $44,346. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 42.4% in 17538 and 33.6% in 17554. Poverty rate reads 7.4% vs 4.9%, and unemployment 3.3% 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 $299,300 in 17538 versus $301,500 in 17554, with median rent of $1,085 and $1,396 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 86.5% 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.