ZIP 23434 vs ZIP 23438

This side-by-side compares ZIP 23434 (Suffolk, VA) and ZIP 23438 (Suffolk, VA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 23434 has a population of 47,670 at 91 people per square mile, while ZIP 23438 has 1,818 at 17 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 23434 reports a median household income of $79,877 against $93,750 in ZIP 23438, with per-capita income of $38,136 vs $40,501. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 27.0% in 23434 and 20.9% in 23438. Poverty rate reads 11.2% vs 7.6%, and unemployment 5.8% vs 3.1% — 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 $313,500 in 23434 versus $292,600 in 23438, with median rent of $1,365 and $950 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 68.5% vs 96.4%. 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.