ZIP 22209 vs ZIP 20057

This side-by-side compares ZIP 22209 (Arlington, VA) and ZIP 20057 (Washington, DC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 22209 has a population of 12,314 at 7,923 people per square mile, while ZIP 20057 has 3,888 at 8,832 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 22209 reports a median household income of $120,515 against — in ZIP 20057, with per-capita income of $98,791 vs $3,904. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 83.8% in 22209 and 15.2% in 20057. Poverty rate reads 12.3% vs 100.0%, and unemployment 4.6% vs 9.1% — 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 $820,000 in 22209 versus — in 20057, with median rent of $2,203 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 28.6% 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.