ZIP 21014 vs ZIP 21015

This side-by-side compares ZIP 21014 (Bel Air, MD) and ZIP 21015 (Bel Air, MD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 21014 has a population of 36,047 at 988 people per square mile, while ZIP 21015 has 27,763 at 347 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 21014 reports a median household income of $116,970 against $137,281 in ZIP 21015, with per-capita income of $53,829 vs $58,462. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 47.2% in 21014 and 53.4% in 21015. Poverty rate reads 6.6% vs 5.0%, and unemployment 2.4% vs 4.1% — 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 $429,900 in 21014 versus $443,400 in 21015, with median rent of $1,577 and $1,752 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 75.8% vs 89.1%. 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.