ZIP 22846 vs ZIP 22840

This side-by-side compares ZIP 22846 (Penn Laird, VA) and ZIP 22840 (Mc Gaheysville, VA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 22846 has a population of 1,855 at 64 people per square mile, while ZIP 22840 has 4,354 at 64 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 22846 reports a median household income of $115,491 against $95,667 in ZIP 22840, with per-capita income of $51,382 vs $69,022. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 42.6% in 22846 and 49.7% in 22840. Poverty rate reads 2.0% vs 5.3%, and unemployment 2.8% vs 1.5% — 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 $450,000 in 22846 versus $382,500 in 22840, with median rent of $1,317 and $1,446 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.6% vs 85.5%. 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.