ZIP 27516 vs ZIP 27514

This side-by-side compares ZIP 27516 (Chapel Hill, NC) and ZIP 27514 (Chapel Hill, NC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 27516 has a population of 36,139 at 150 people per square mile, while ZIP 27514 has 32,110 at 638 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 27516 reports a median household income of $106,353 against $92,875 in ZIP 27514, with per-capita income of $58,731 vs $52,000. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 72.8% in 27516 and 79.5% in 27514. Poverty rate reads 15.8% vs 14.9%, and unemployment 6.8% vs 2.8% — 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 $567,200 in 27516 versus $663,900 in 27514, with median rent of $1,564 and $1,626 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.7% vs 48.6%. 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.