ZIP 20608 vs ZIP 20612

This side-by-side compares ZIP 20608 (Aquasco, MD) and ZIP 20612 (Benedict, MD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 20608 has a population of 919 at 20 people per square mile, while ZIP 20612 has 261 at 432 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 20608 reports a median household income of $82,083 against $41,118 in ZIP 20612, with per-capita income of $35,208 vs $36,867. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.5% in 20608 and 0.0% in 20612. Poverty rate reads 27.0% vs 23.0%, and unemployment 5.1% vs 0.0% — 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 $400,000 in 20608 versus — in 20612, with median rent of $1,289 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 72.7% vs 89.4%. 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.