ZIP 27803 vs ZIP 27878

This side-by-side compares ZIP 27803 (Rocky Mount, NC) and ZIP 27878 (Sharpsburg, NC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 27803 has a population of 21,227 at 203 people per square mile, while ZIP 27878 has 1,931 at 406 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 27803 reports a median household income of $60,124 against $53,382 in ZIP 27878, with per-capita income of $37,361 vs $23,587. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.3% in 27803 and 3.7% in 27878. Poverty rate reads 15.2% vs 26.1%, and unemployment 4.7% 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 $174,500 in 27803 versus $111,500 in 27878, with median rent of $913 and $926 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 61.7% vs 46.0%. 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.