ZIP 40353 vs ZIP 40374

This side-by-side compares ZIP 40353 (Mount Sterling, KY) and ZIP 40374 (Sharpsburg, KY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 40353 has a population of 20,779 at 58 people per square mile, while ZIP 40374 has 1,702 at 10 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 40353 reports a median household income of $57,329 against $43,607 in ZIP 40374, with per-capita income of $31,834 vs $22,218. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.5% in 40353 and 13.5% in 40374. Poverty rate reads 14.6% vs 36.1%, and unemployment 3.5% vs 2.0% — 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 $184,000 in 40353 versus $115,100 in 40374, with median rent of $836 and $664 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 66.6% vs 78.1%. 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.