ZIP 18629 vs ZIP 18636

This side-by-side compares ZIP 18629 (Mehoopany, PA) and ZIP 18636 (Noxen, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 18629 has a population of 1,801 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 18636 has 1,438 at 13 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 18629 reports a median household income of $59,464 against $57,132 in ZIP 18636, with per-capita income of $42,562 vs $29,769. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 9.6% in 18629 and 17.1% in 18636. Poverty rate reads 9.6% vs 11.7%, and unemployment 4.0% vs 11.6% — 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 $222,500 in 18629 versus $180,200 in 18636, with median rent of $1,109 and $1,074 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.9% vs 85.3%. 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.