ZIP 31561 vs ZIP 31522

This side-by-side compares ZIP 31561 (Sea Island, GA) and ZIP 31522 (Saint Simons Island, GA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 31561 has a population of 298 at 24 people per square mile, while ZIP 31522 has 14,447 at 103 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 31561 reports a median household income of $250,001 against $108,632 in ZIP 31522, with per-capita income of $191,870 vs $75,759. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 100.0% in 31561 and 57.5% in 31522. Poverty rate reads 0.0% vs 4.8%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 2.7% — 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 $2,000,001 in 31561 versus $571,100 in 31522, with median rent of — and $1,851 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 100.0% vs 84.8%. 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.