ZIP 26812 vs ZIP 22810

This side-by-side compares ZIP 26812 (Mathias, WV) and ZIP 22810 (Basye, VA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 26812 has a population of 1,705 at 6 people per square mile, while ZIP 22810 has 863 at 13 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 26812 reports a median household income of $64,375 against $72,679 in ZIP 22810, with per-capita income of $35,724 vs $56,051. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.9% in 26812 and 53.9% in 22810. Poverty rate reads 20.6% vs 3.8%, and unemployment 1.8% 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 $144,200 in 26812 versus $311,100 in 22810, with median rent of $1,109 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 85.8% vs 97.1%. 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.