ZIP 23701 vs ZIP 23702

This side-by-side compares ZIP 23701 (Portsmouth, VA) and ZIP 23702 (Portsmouth, VA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 23701 has a population of 25,161 at 1,300 people per square mile, while ZIP 23702 has 11,424 at 1,750 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 23701 reports a median household income of $62,349 against $48,835 in ZIP 23702, with per-capita income of $32,768 vs $26,596. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 21.5% in 23701 and 11.0% in 23702. Poverty rate reads 12.3% vs 23.1%, and unemployment 7.1% vs 7.2% — 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 $235,200 in 23701 versus $208,000 in 23702, with median rent of $1,305 and $1,242 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 69.0% vs 46.2%. 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.