ZIP 25537 vs ZIP 25545

This side-by-side compares ZIP 25537 (Lesage, WV) and ZIP 25545 (Ona, WV) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 25537 has a population of 1,993 at 36 people per square mile, while ZIP 25545 has 4,512 at 63 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 25537 reports a median household income of $68,385 against $92,813 in ZIP 25545, with per-capita income of $33,411 vs $44,367. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.7% in 25537 and 37.6% in 25545. Poverty rate reads 21.2% vs 5.2%, and unemployment 7.9% vs 1.2% — 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 $188,700 in 25537 versus $214,600 in 25545, with median rent of $884 and $943 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 69.7% vs 92.3%. 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.