ZIP 23843 vs ZIP 23889

This side-by-side compares ZIP 23843 (Dolphin, VA) and ZIP 23889 (Warfield, VA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 23843 has a population of 654 at 9 people per square mile, while ZIP 23889 has 581 at 7 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 23843 reports a median household income of $70,481 against $49,730 in ZIP 23889, with per-capita income of $34,496 vs $19,771. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 5.0% in 23843 and 5.1% in 23889. Poverty rate reads 12.3% vs 13.8%, and unemployment 0.0% 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 $121,400 in 23843 versus $214,200 in 23889, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 89.6% vs 85.2%. 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.