ZIP 20688 vs ZIP 20629

This side-by-side compares ZIP 20688 (Solomons, MD) and ZIP 20629 (Dowell, MD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 20688 has a population of 1,828 at 493 people per square mile, while ZIP 20629 has 535 at 479 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 20688 reports a median household income of $102,950 against $87,389 in ZIP 20629, with per-capita income of $58,614 vs $60,505. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 42.6% in 20688 and 41.0% in 20629. Poverty rate reads 0.2% vs 1.0%, and unemployment 8.4% 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 $619,200 in 20688 versus $403,100 in 20629, with median rent of $3,222 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 48.5% vs 96.7%. 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.