ZIP 28465 vs ZIP 28461

This side-by-side compares ZIP 28465 (Oak Island, NC) and ZIP 28461 (Southport, NC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 28465 has a population of 6,531 at 238 people per square mile, while ZIP 28461 has 16,126 at 82 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 28465 reports a median household income of $86,194 against $82,692 in ZIP 28461, with per-capita income of $66,508 vs $53,976. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 45.3% in 28465 and 42.2% in 28461. Poverty rate reads 8.8% vs 5.8%, and unemployment 1.4% vs 7.5% — 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 $479,500 in 28465 versus $428,600 in 28461, with median rent of $1,289 and $1,352 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 91.1% vs 87.2%. 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.