ZIP 20854 vs ZIP 22102

This side-by-side compares ZIP 20854 (Potomac, MD) and ZIP 22102 (Mc Lean, VA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 20854 has a population of 49,611 at 567 people per square mile, while ZIP 22102 has 21,985 at 810 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 20854 reports a median household income of $250,001 against $153,949 in ZIP 22102, with per-capita income of $114,794 vs $106,098. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 85.7% in 20854 and 81.2% in 22102. Poverty rate reads 2.6% vs 6.5%, and unemployment 3.0% vs 4.3% — 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 $1,165,400 in 20854 versus $955,500 in 22102, with median rent of $3,501 and $2,497 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 89.4% vs 48.2%. 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.