ZIP 25692 vs ZIP 25688

This side-by-side compares ZIP 25692 (Red Jacket, WV) and ZIP 25688 (North Matewan, WV) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 25692 has a population of 1,021 at 40 people per square mile, while ZIP 25688 has 448 at 37 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 25692 reports a median household income of $23,234 against — in ZIP 25688, with per-capita income of $19,678 vs $35,015. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 4.2% in 25692 and 27.1% in 25688. Poverty rate reads 51.2% vs 20.8%, and unemployment 22.7% vs 8.7% — 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 25692 versus — in 25688, with median rent of $657 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 78.1% vs 46.4%. 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.