ZIP 29518 vs ZIP 29560

This side-by-side compares ZIP 29518 (Cades, SC) and ZIP 29560 (Lake City, SC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 29518 has a population of 1,232 at 10 people per square mile, while ZIP 29560 has 13,664 at 33 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 29518 reports a median household income of $61,923 against $46,601 in ZIP 29560, with per-capita income of $28,783 vs $31,025. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.4% in 29518 and 19.4% in 29560. Poverty rate reads 20.0% vs 21.4%, and unemployment 4.9% vs 7.0% — 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 $212,200 in 29518 versus $125,900 in 29560, with median rent of $1,019 and $709 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 76.8% vs 62.2%. 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.