ZIP 20677 vs ZIP 20646

This side-by-side compares ZIP 20677 (Port Tobacco, MD) and ZIP 20646 (La Plata, MD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 20677 has a population of 2,322 at 58 people per square mile, while ZIP 20646 has 18,890 at 88 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 20677 reports a median household income of $165,764 against $131,974 in ZIP 20646, with per-capita income of $61,925 vs $55,317. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 39.1% in 20677 and 34.9% in 20646. Poverty rate reads 6.0% vs 5.6%, and unemployment 5.6% vs 3.3% — 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 $576,700 in 20677 versus $450,200 in 20646, with median rent of — and $1,541 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 97.0% vs 86.5%. 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.