ZIP 21662 vs ZIP 21653

This side-by-side compares ZIP 21662 (Royal Oak, MD) and ZIP 21653 (Newcomb, MD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 21662 has a population of 555 at 27 people per square mile, while ZIP 21653 has 114 at 253 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 21662 reports a median household income of $137,404 against — in ZIP 21653, with per-capita income of $82,849 vs $53,004. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 60.2% in 21662 and 72.6% in 21653. Poverty rate reads 9.3% vs 14.3%, and unemployment 10.5% 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 $1,107,100 in 21662 versus $829,500 in 21653, with median rent of $2,125 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.1% 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.