ZIP 17866 vs ZIP 17872

This side-by-side compares ZIP 17866 (Coal Township, PA) and ZIP 17872 (Shamokin, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 17866 has a population of 10,310 at 159 people per square mile, while ZIP 17872 has 9,943 at 95 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 17866 reports a median household income of $51,010 against $48,750 in ZIP 17872, with per-capita income of $25,108 vs $27,259. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 9.0% in 17866 and 12.1% in 17872. Poverty rate reads 14.1% vs 20.2%, and unemployment 6.0% vs 1.8% — 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 $88,300 in 17866 versus $81,800 in 17872, with median rent of $745 and $824 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 79.8% vs 66.9%. 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.