ZIP 26149 vs ZIP 26320

This side-by-side compares ZIP 26149 (Middlebourne, WV) and ZIP 26320 (Alma, WV) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 26149 has a population of 2,452 at 13 people per square mile, while ZIP 26320 has 1,000 at 7 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 26149 reports a median household income of $71,786 against $70,476 in ZIP 26320, with per-capita income of $46,485 vs $51,261. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.6% in 26149 and 10.0% in 26320. Poverty rate reads 16.2% vs 10.9%, and unemployment 6.4% vs 1.5% — 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 $159,900 in 26149 versus $76,800 in 26320, with median rent of $767 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 86.4% vs 97.9%. 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.