ZIP 21733 vs ZIP 21781

This side-by-side compares ZIP 21733 (Fairplay, MD) and ZIP 21781 (Saint James, MD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 21733 has a population of 1,163 at 74 people per square mile, while ZIP 21781 has 136 at 207 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 21733 reports a median household income of $109,896 against — in ZIP 21781, with per-capita income of $42,309 vs —. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 24.4% in 21733 and 0.0% in 21781. Poverty rate reads 3.4% vs 100.0%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 100.0% — 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 $291,800 in 21733 versus — in 21781, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 82.6% vs —. 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.