ZIP 19956 vs ZIP 19940

This side-by-side compares ZIP 19956 (Laurel, DE) and ZIP 19940 (Delmar, DE) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 19956 has a population of 15,500 at 59 people per square mile, while ZIP 19940 has 5,574 at 52 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 19956 reports a median household income of $65,603 against $65,024 in ZIP 19940, with per-capita income of $31,443 vs $33,363. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.1% in 19956 and 19.9% in 19940. Poverty rate reads 15.0% vs 14.0%, and unemployment 5.2% vs 6.7% — 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 $259,500 in 19956 versus $235,300 in 19940, with median rent of $1,041 and $1,037 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 67.6% vs 82.2%. 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.