ZIP 28120 vs ZIP 28164

This side-by-side compares ZIP 28120 (Mount Holly, NC) and ZIP 28164 (Stanley, NC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 28120 has a population of 19,807 at 252 people per square mile, while ZIP 28164 has 14,085 at 129 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 28120 reports a median household income of $78,231 against $79,728 in ZIP 28164, with per-capita income of $41,978 vs $41,133. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 33.8% in 28120 and 24.5% in 28164. Poverty rate reads 12.2% vs 7.5%, and unemployment 5.0% vs 3.4% — 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 $321,500 in 28120 versus $310,300 in 28164, with median rent of $1,234 and $1,126 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 74.7% vs 83.5%. 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.