ZIP 28551 vs ZIP 27534

This side-by-side compares ZIP 28551 (La Grange, NC) and ZIP 27534 (Goldsboro, NC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 28551 has a population of 14,093 at 41 people per square mile, while ZIP 27534 has 31,364 at 167 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 28551 reports a median household income of $49,092 against $62,574 in ZIP 27534, with per-capita income of $26,091 vs $38,578. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.5% in 28551 and 30.9% in 27534. Poverty rate reads 15.8% vs 12.2%, and unemployment 6.4% vs 4.6% — 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 $131,100 in 28551 versus $208,000 in 27534, with median rent of $868 and $1,135 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 66.9% vs 52.4%. 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.