ZIP 17606 vs ZIP 17601

This side-by-side compares ZIP 17606 (Lancaster, PA) and ZIP 17601 (Lancaster, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 17606 has a population of 392 at 3,227 people per square mile, while ZIP 17601 has 49,779 at 577 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 17606 reports a median household income of — against $102,435 in ZIP 17601, with per-capita income of $27,208 vs $56,216. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 45.8% in 17606 and 50.0% in 17601. Poverty rate reads 40.9% vs 5.9%, and unemployment 0.0% 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 — in 17606 versus $354,400 in 17601, with median rent of $2,208 and $1,552 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 16.9% vs 72.5%. 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.