ZIP 29439 vs ZIP 29412

This side-by-side compares ZIP 29439 (Folly Beach, SC) and ZIP 29412 (Charleston, SC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 29439 has a population of 2,399 at 319 people per square mile, while ZIP 29412 has 35,850 at 353 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 29439 reports a median household income of $137,396 against $101,509 in ZIP 29412, with per-capita income of $86,983 vs $61,854. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 66.8% in 29439 and 56.1% in 29412. Poverty rate reads 1.9% vs 8.0%, and unemployment 2.3% 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 $1,043,200 in 29439 versus $504,500 in 29412, with median rent of $1,844 and $1,881 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 93.8% vs 72.7%. 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.