ZIP 37902 vs ZIP 37916

This side-by-side compares ZIP 37902 (Knoxville, TN) and ZIP 37916 (Knoxville, TN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 37902 has a population of 1,586 at 1,315 people per square mile, while ZIP 37916 has 12,507 at 3,280 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 37902 reports a median household income of $50,161 against $14,925 in ZIP 37916, with per-capita income of $72,629 vs $9,056. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 59.3% in 37902 and 41.1% in 37916. Poverty rate reads 25.6% vs 75.6%, and unemployment 3.0% vs 6.1% — 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 $687,500 in 37902 versus $269,800 in 37916, with median rent of $1,498 and $1,236 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 18.7% vs 2.5%. 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.