ZIP 25502 vs ZIP 25503

This side-by-side compares ZIP 25502 (Apple Grove, WV) and ZIP 25503 (Ashton, WV) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 25502 has a population of 1,034 at 19 people per square mile, while ZIP 25503 has 729 at 18 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 25502 reports a median household income of $78,079 against — in ZIP 25503, with per-capita income of $29,221 vs $15,343. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 26.4% in 25502 and 19.4% in 25503. Poverty rate reads 17.3% vs 76.6%, and unemployment 16.0% 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 — in 25502 versus $69,300 in 25503, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 80.4% vs 89.1%. 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.