ZIP 24251 vs ZIP 24244

This side-by-side compares ZIP 24251 (Gate City, VA) and ZIP 24244 (Duffield, VA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 24251 has a population of 8,773 at 29 people per square mile, while ZIP 24244 has 5,723 at 13 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 24251 reports a median household income of $44,505 against $40,423 in ZIP 24244, with per-capita income of $31,074 vs $22,679. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.9% in 24251 and 10.1% in 24244. Poverty rate reads 19.7% vs 26.1%, and unemployment 2.9% vs 3.2% — 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 $159,100 in 24251 versus $115,800 in 24244, with median rent of $676 and $715 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 75.0% vs 73.3%. 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.