ZIP 22443 vs ZIP 22509

This side-by-side compares ZIP 22443 (Colonial Beach, VA) and ZIP 22509 (Loretto, VA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 22443 has a population of 8,083 at 51 people per square mile, while ZIP 22509 has 31 at 1 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 22443 reports a median household income of $64,810 against $19,449 in ZIP 22509, with per-capita income of $37,097 vs $16,193. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.1% in 22443 and 0.0% in 22509. Poverty rate reads 15.6% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 8.1% 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 $256,800 in 22443 versus $172,100 in 22509, with median rent of $942 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 79.1% vs 100.0%. 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.