ZIP 28543 vs ZIP 28547

This side-by-side compares ZIP 28543 (Tarawa Terrace, NC) and ZIP 28547 (Camp Lejeune, NC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 28543 has a population of 4,699 at 887 people per square mile, while ZIP 28547 has 21,884 at 326 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 28543 reports a median household income of $50,649 against $67,588 in ZIP 28547, with per-capita income of $22,876 vs $25,816. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 38.9% in 28543 and 25.4% in 28547. Poverty rate reads 8.3% vs 7.8%, and unemployment 2.6% vs 0.7% — 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 — in 28543 versus — in 28547, with median rent of $1,418 and $1,473 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 2.9% vs 0.0%. 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.