ZIP 25504 vs ZIP 25559

This side-by-side compares ZIP 25504 (Barboursville, WV) and ZIP 25559 (Salt Rock, WV) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 25504 has a population of 12,661 at 99 people per square mile, while ZIP 25559 has 2,152 at 41 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 25504 reports a median household income of $62,530 against $34,727 in ZIP 25559, with per-capita income of $34,288 vs $21,067. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 30.9% in 25504 and 10.4% in 25559. Poverty rate reads 13.0% vs 17.5%, and unemployment 3.9% vs 12.1% — 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 $178,400 in 25504 versus $131,300 in 25559, with median rent of $982 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 79.6% vs 71.2%. 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.