ZIP 18817 vs ZIP 18831

This side-by-side compares ZIP 18817 (East Smithfield, PA) and ZIP 18831 (Milan, PA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 18817 has a population of 306 at 64 people per square mile, while ZIP 18831 has 1,039 at 14 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 18817 reports a median household income of $67,875 against $82,132 in ZIP 18831, with per-capita income of $32,018 vs $36,367. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.4% in 18817 and 20.4% in 18831. Poverty rate reads 5.4% vs 6.6%, and unemployment 8.6% vs 3.7% — 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 $219,400 in 18817 versus $216,900 in 18831, with median rent of — and $845 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 100.0% vs 86.4%. 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.