ZIP 17957 vs ZIP 17938

This side-by-side compares ZIP 17957 (Muir, PA) and ZIP 17938 (Hegins, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 17957 has a population of 328 at 806 people per square mile, while ZIP 17938 has 2,442 at 24 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 17957 reports a median household income of $106,250 against $93,722 in ZIP 17938, with per-capita income of $31,258 vs $45,045. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 28.2% in 17957 and 26.8% in 17938. Poverty rate reads 5.4% vs 4.5%, and unemployment 1.8% 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 $202,900 in 17957 versus $219,000 in 17938, with median rent of — and $793 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 92.5% vs 87.8%. 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.