ZIP 27889 vs ZIP 27817

This side-by-side compares ZIP 27889 (Washington, NC) and ZIP 27817 (Chocowinity, NC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 27889 has a population of 27,468 at 54 people per square mile, while ZIP 27817 has 7,358 at 25 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 27889 reports a median household income of $53,179 against $77,017 in ZIP 27817, with per-capita income of $33,729 vs $33,678. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 21.7% in 27889 and 21.1% in 27817. Poverty rate reads 16.6% vs 19.6%, and unemployment 3.8% vs 5.4% — 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 $194,200 in 27889 versus $173,300 in 27817, with median rent of $865 and $837 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 60.9% vs 75.8%. 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.