ZIP 29659 vs ZIP 29655

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