ZIP 17731 vs ZIP 18626

This side-by-side compares ZIP 17731 (Eagles Mere, PA) and ZIP 18626 (Laporte, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 17731 has a population of 185 at 5 people per square mile, while ZIP 18626 has 516 at 8 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 17731 reports a median household income of $98,750 against $75,250 in ZIP 18626, with per-capita income of $65,282 vs $35,788. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 49.7% in 17731 and 41.5% in 18626. Poverty rate reads 2.7% vs 3.3%, and unemployment 4.9% vs 19.2% - 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 $313,900 in 17731 versus $276,600 in 18626, with median rent of - and $1,000 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 97.1% vs 94.9%. 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.