ZIP 31085 vs ZIP 30056

This side-by-side compares ZIP 31085 (Shady Dale, GA) and ZIP 30056 (Newborn, GA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 31085 has a population of 1,043 at 9 people per square mile, while ZIP 30056 has 2,500 at 25 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 31085 reports a median household income of $46,375 against $68,494 in ZIP 30056, with per-capita income of $21,521 vs $31,512. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 12.6% in 31085 and 21.1% in 30056. Poverty rate reads 20.9% vs 9.1%, and unemployment 0.6% vs 10.0% — 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 $116,100 in 31085 versus $306,000 in 30056, with median rent of $965 and $1,044 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 78.2% vs 81.8%. 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.