ZIP 21664 vs ZIP 21631

This side-by-side compares ZIP 21664 (Secretary, MD) and ZIP 21631 (East New Market, MD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 21664 has a population of 539 at 481 people per square mile, while ZIP 21631 has 2,731 at 40 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 21664 reports a median household income of $82,721 against $73,864 in ZIP 21631, with per-capita income of $29,251 vs $37,827. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.3% in 21664 and 23.8% in 21631. Poverty rate reads 5.5% vs 4.9%, and unemployment 6.7% vs 5.7% — 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 $172,000 in 21664 versus $306,700 in 21631, with median rent of $1,175 and $1,541 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.0% vs 85.4%. 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.