ZIP 20616 vs ZIP 22309

This side-by-side compares ZIP 20616 (Bryans Road, MD) and ZIP 22309 (Alexandria, VA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 20616 has a population of 5,857 at 230 people per square mile, while ZIP 22309 has 33,220 at 1,704 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 20616 reports a median household income of $128,177 against $107,376 in ZIP 22309, with per-capita income of $48,537 vs $53,535. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 31.2% in 20616 and 44.8% in 22309. Poverty rate reads 2.3% vs 8.7%, and unemployment 8.1% vs 5.0% — 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 $387,000 in 20616 versus $567,200 in 22309, with median rent of $2,563 and $1,781 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 95.3% vs 64.4%. 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.