ZIP 17851 vs ZIP 17832

This side-by-side compares ZIP 17851 (Mount Carmel, PA) and ZIP 17832 (Marion Heights, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 17851 has a population of 7,841 at 200 people per square mile, while ZIP 17832 has 628 at 621 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 17851 reports a median household income of $53,637 against $52,569 in ZIP 17832, with per-capita income of $27,140 vs $26,455. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 18.2% in 17851 and 8.3% in 17832. Poverty rate reads 15.8% vs 22.3%, and unemployment 7.5% vs 2.9% — 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 $79,300 in 17851 versus $89,800 in 17832, with median rent of $751 and $1,156 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 78.9% vs 76.6%. 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.