ZIP 29655 vs ZIP 29659

This side-by-side compares ZIP 29655 (Iva, SC) and ZIP 29659 (Lowndesville, SC) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 29655 has a population of 7,796 at 20 people per square mile, while ZIP 29659 has 118 at 64 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 29655 reports a median household income of $51,395 against — in ZIP 29659, with per-capita income of $26,298 vs $72,245. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.0% in 29655 and 25.6% in 29659. Poverty rate reads 19.6% vs 38.7%, and unemployment 6.2% vs 0.0% — 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 $163,400 in 29655 versus — in 29659, with median rent of $797 and $510 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 85.1% vs 51.1%. 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.