ZIP 28357 vs ZIP 28386

This side-by-side compares ZIP 28357 (Lumber Bridge, NC) and ZIP 28386 (Shannon, NC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 28357 has a population of 3,125 at 34 people per square mile, while ZIP 28386 has 6,319 at 54 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 28357 reports a median household income of $49,116 against $31,777 in ZIP 28386, with per-capita income of $23,897 vs $18,096. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 11.3% in 28357 and 7.9% in 28386. Poverty rate reads 16.9% vs 38.2%, and unemployment 0.8% vs 7.4% — 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 $88,600 in 28357 versus $69,700 in 28386, with median rent of $938 and $715 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 78.7% vs 76.3%. 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.