ZIP 23109 vs ZIP 23056

This side-by-side compares ZIP 23109 (Mathews, VA) and ZIP 23056 (Foster, VA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 23109 has a population of 1,821 at 41 people per square mile, while ZIP 23056 has 458 at 30 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 23109 reports a median household income of $79,196 against $79,205 in ZIP 23056, with per-capita income of $47,318 vs $33,727. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 28.4% in 23109 and 41.0% in 23056. Poverty rate reads 9.6% vs 8.6%, and unemployment 13.3% 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 $310,800 in 23109 versus $340,500 in 23056, with median rent of $859 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.7% 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.