ZIP 21638 vs ZIP 21658

This side-by-side compares ZIP 21638 (Grasonville, MD) and ZIP 21658 (Queenstown, MD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 21638 has a population of 4,934 at 195 people per square mile, while ZIP 21658 has 3,862 at 38 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 21638 reports a median household income of $140,086 against $128,274 in ZIP 21658, with per-capita income of $60,714 vs $58,960. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 46.7% in 21638 and 43.6% in 21658. Poverty rate reads 8.4% vs 9.4%, and unemployment 2.4% vs 2.1% — 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 $569,200 in 21638 versus $483,200 in 21658, with median rent of $1,692 and $1,750 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 84.5% vs 90.6%. 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.