ZIP 29403 vs ZIP 29409

This side-by-side compares ZIP 29403 (Charleston, SC) and ZIP 29409 (Charleston, SC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 29403 has a population of 20,818 at 1,504 people per square mile, while ZIP 29409 has 2,100 at 12,577 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 29403 reports a median household income of $66,944 against — in ZIP 29409, with per-capita income of $49,758 vs $7,702. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 60.9% in 29403 and 0.0% in 29409. Poverty rate reads 25.8% vs 45.5%, and unemployment 4.9% vs 9.7% — 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 $674,000 in 29403 versus — in 29409, with median rent of $1,798 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 32.9% 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.