ZIP 19936 vs ZIP 19904

This side-by-side compares ZIP 19936 (Cheswold, DE) and ZIP 19904 (Dover, DE) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 19936 has a population of 302 at 514 people per square mile, while ZIP 19904 has 34,132 at 300 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 19936 reports a median household income of $34,135 against $66,908 in ZIP 19904, with per-capita income of $28,789 vs $35,054. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 7.8% in 19936 and 27.3% in 19904. Poverty rate reads 11.2% vs 14.2%, and unemployment 9.8% vs 5.7% — 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 $110,400 in 19936 versus $309,400 in 19904, with median rent of $1,125 and $1,370 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 67.2% vs 62.0%. 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.