ZIP 28538 vs ZIP 28554

This side-by-side compares ZIP 28538 (Hookerton, NC) and ZIP 28554 (Maury, NC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 28538 has a population of 2,175 at 29 people per square mile, while ZIP 28554 has 243 at 336 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 28538 reports a median household income of $56,953 against — in ZIP 28554, with per-capita income of $29,164 vs —. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 13.5% in 28538 and 68.6% in 28554. Poverty rate reads 23.1% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 5.6% vs 0.0% — 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 $114,800 in 28538 versus — in 28554, with median rent of $901 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 49.2% vs 100.0%. 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.