ZIP 30097 vs ZIP 30096

This side-by-side compares ZIP 30097 (Duluth, GA) and ZIP 30096 (Duluth, GA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 30097 has a population of 41,715 at 717 people per square mile, while ZIP 30096 has 62,265 at 1,051 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 30097 reports a median household income of $124,890 against $74,656 in ZIP 30096, with per-capita income of $65,210 vs $40,952. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 66.3% in 30097 and 41.4% in 30096. Poverty rate reads 5.2% vs 12.5%, and unemployment 3.7% vs 4.1% — 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 $625,100 in 30097 versus $375,200 in 30096, with median rent of $2,001 and $1,822 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.9% vs 43.0%. 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.