ZIP 27616 vs ZIP 27604

This side-by-side compares ZIP 27616 (Raleigh, NC) and ZIP 27604 (Raleigh, NC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 27616 has a population of 42,294 at 735 people per square mile, while ZIP 27604 has 42,204 at 755 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 27616 reports a median household income of $83,565 against $70,375 in ZIP 27604, with per-capita income of $39,743 vs $43,575. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 44.5% in 27616 and 39.9% in 27604. Poverty rate reads 9.9% vs 13.0%, and unemployment 5.7% vs 4.7% — 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 $349,300 in 27616 versus $349,200 in 27604, with median rent of $1,659 and $1,480 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 56.0% vs 54.8%. 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.