ZIP 33538 vs ZIP 34450

This side-by-side compares ZIP 33538 (Lake Panasoffkee, FL) and ZIP 34450 (Inverness, FL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 33538 has a population of 4,789 at 19 people per square mile, while ZIP 34450 has 10,293 at 154 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 33538 reports a median household income of $48,921 against $48,763 in ZIP 34450, with per-capita income of $31,513 vs $43,820. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.3% in 33538 and 26.6% in 34450. Poverty rate reads 24.9% vs 14.3%, and unemployment 5.0% vs 10.5% — 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 $179,700 in 33538 versus $236,100 in 34450, with median rent of $1,038 and $1,016 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.2% vs 84.2%. 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.