ZIP 20765 vs ZIP 20778

This side-by-side compares ZIP 20765 (Galesville, MD) and ZIP 20778 (West River, MD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 20765 has a population of 514 at 425 people per square mile, while ZIP 20778 has 2,009 at 99 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 20765 reports a median household income of $149,545 against $205,974 in ZIP 20778, with per-capita income of $61,531 vs $66,972. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 36.4% in 20765 and 49.9% in 20778. Poverty rate reads 4.3% vs 0.8%, and unemployment 5.4% vs 2.3% — 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 $617,300 in 20765 versus $716,500 in 20778, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 94.5% vs 100.0%. 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.