ZIP 28421 vs ZIP 28447

This side-by-side compares ZIP 28421 (Atkinson, NC) and ZIP 28447 (Ivanhoe, NC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 28421 has a population of 1,521 at 11 people per square mile, while ZIP 28447 has 1,391 at 5 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 28421 reports a median household income of $60,025 against $77,134 in ZIP 28447, with per-capita income of $26,221 vs $38,131. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 6.5% in 28421 and 18.0% in 28447. Poverty rate reads 13.9% vs 13.1%, and unemployment 2.0% vs 3.3% — 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 $118,400 in 28421 versus $241,300 in 28447, with median rent of $672 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.0% vs 95.4%. 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.