ZIP 17949 vs ZIP 17946

This side-by-side compares ZIP 17949 (Mahanoy Plane, PA) and ZIP 17946 (Lost Creek, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 17949 has a population of 263 at 1,009 people per square mile, while ZIP 17946 has 263 at 53 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 17949 reports a median household income of $54,250 against $125,100 in ZIP 17946, with per-capita income of $30,272 vs $42,881. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 6.0% in 17949 and 0.0% in 17946. Poverty rate reads 37.1% vs 4.3%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 0.0% — 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 $35,600 in 17949 versus $164,300 in 17946, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 76.5% vs 100.0%. 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.