ZIP 28557 vs ZIP 28512

This side-by-side compares ZIP 28557 (Morehead City, NC) and ZIP 28512 (Atlantic Beach, NC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 28557 has a population of 14,429 at 393 people per square mile, while ZIP 28512 has 2,896 at 194 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 28557 reports a median household income of $68,528 against $91,488 in ZIP 28512, with per-capita income of $48,362 vs $67,739. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 41.6% in 28557 and 61.8% in 28512. Poverty rate reads 11.4% vs 10.9%, and unemployment 2.6% vs 3.5% — 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 $362,800 in 28557 versus $565,400 in 28512, with median rent of $1,149 and $1,223 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 62.5% vs 79.1%. 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.