ZIP 21811 vs ZIP 21842

This side-by-side compares ZIP 21811 (Berlin, MD) and ZIP 21842 (Ocean City, MD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 21811 has a population of 22,550 at 87 people per square mile, while ZIP 21842 has 11,089 at 481 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 21811 reports a median household income of $90,082 against $79,876 in ZIP 21842, with per-capita income of $51,350 vs $75,528. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 39.9% in 21811 and 40.7% in 21842. Poverty rate reads 9.8% vs 9.4%, and unemployment 5.8% vs 7.5% — 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 $388,900 in 21811 versus $447,700 in 21842, with median rent of $1,377 and $1,394 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 83.3% vs 76.0%. 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.