ZIP 22101 vs ZIP 20818

This side-by-side compares ZIP 22101 (Mc Lean, VA) and ZIP 20818 (Cabin John, MD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 22101 has a population of 29,887 at 846 people per square mile, while ZIP 20818 has 1,962 at 743 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 22101 reports a median household income of $250,001 against $245,982 in ZIP 20818, with per-capita income of $135,969 vs $159,058. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 84.8% in 22101 and 86.4% in 20818. Poverty rate reads 3.3% vs 1.1%, and unemployment 2.3% 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 $1,449,900 in 22101 versus $1,335,100 in 20818, with median rent of $3,501 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 83.8% vs 95.3%. 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.