ZIP 21821 vs ZIP 21840

This side-by-side compares ZIP 21821 (Deal Island, MD) and ZIP 21840 (Nanticoke, MD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 21821 has a population of 991 at 35 people per square mile, while ZIP 21840 has 375 at 28 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 21821 reports a median household income of $60,341 against — in ZIP 21840, with per-capita income of $30,716 vs $64,382. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 11.0% in 21821 and 17.6% in 21840. Poverty rate reads 19.2% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 4.0% vs 19.8% — 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 $188,200 in 21821 versus $9,999 in 21840, with median rent of $1,615 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 83.2% vs 68.2%. 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.