ZIP 39834 vs ZIP 39897

This side-by-side compares ZIP 39834 (Climax, GA) and ZIP 39897 (Whigham, GA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 39834 has a population of 2,138 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 39897 has 3,430 at 9 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 39834 reports a median household income of $47,708 against $54,639 in ZIP 39897, with per-capita income of $29,341 vs $34,824. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.3% in 39834 and 16.0% in 39897. Poverty rate reads 20.0% vs 10.1%, and unemployment 1.4% vs 1.3% — 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 $153,900 in 39834 versus $141,500 in 39897, with median rent of $688 and $698 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 76.1% vs 76.5%. 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.