ZIP 27824 vs ZIP 27826

This side-by-side compares ZIP 27824 (Engelhard, NC) and ZIP 27826 (Fairfield, NC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 27824 has a population of 1,476 at 6 people per square mile, while ZIP 27826 has 1,379 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 27824 reports a median household income of $42,589 against — in ZIP 27826, with per-capita income of $24,028 vs $14,517. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 9.4% in 27824 and 11.9% in 27826. Poverty rate reads 36.9% vs 18.6%, and unemployment 4.5% 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 $79,900 in 27824 versus — in 27826, with median rent of $865 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 69.6% vs 81.3%. 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.