ZIP 18421 vs ZIP 18430

This side-by-side compares ZIP 18421 (Forest City, PA) and ZIP 18430 (Herrick Center, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 18421 has a population of 4,754 at 52 people per square mile, while ZIP 18430 has 33 at 7 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 18421 reports a median household income of $68,256 against $92,083 in ZIP 18430, with per-capita income of $33,522 vs $30,568. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 19.5% in 18421 and 41.5% in 18430. Poverty rate reads 13.9% vs 3.5%, and unemployment 6.2% vs 14.7% — 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 $171,400 in 18421 versus $187,500 in 18430, with median rent of $866 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 79.0% vs 92.3%. 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.