ZIP 28540 vs ZIP 28543

This side-by-side compares ZIP 28540 (Jacksonville, NC) and ZIP 28543 (Tarawa Terrace, NC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 28540 has a population of 49,252 at 184 people per square mile, while ZIP 28543 has 4,699 at 887 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 28540 reports a median household income of $65,625 against $50,649 in ZIP 28543, with per-capita income of $31,632 vs $22,876. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 24.3% in 28540 and 38.9% in 28543. Poverty rate reads 16.1% vs 8.3%, and unemployment 3.7% vs 2.6% — 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 $223,800 in 28540 versus — in 28543, with median rent of $1,091 and $1,418 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 61.8% vs 2.9%. 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.