ZIP 18706 vs ZIP 18701

This side-by-side compares ZIP 18706 (Wilkes Barre, PA) and ZIP 18701 (Wilkes Barre, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 18706 has a population of 16,105 at 235 people per square mile, while ZIP 18701 has 3,447 at 2,491 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 18706 reports a median household income of $58,558 against $33,329 in ZIP 18701, with per-capita income of $32,645 vs $18,702. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 18.6% in 18706 and 24.1% in 18701. Poverty rate reads 20.8% vs 20.0%, and unemployment 4.7% vs 8.3% — 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 $138,300 in 18706 versus $203,600 in 18701, with median rent of $965 and $902 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 66.3% vs 7.8%. 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.