ZIP 40516 vs ZIP 40509

This side-by-side compares ZIP 40516 (Lexington, KY) and ZIP 40509 (Lexington, KY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 40516 has a population of 2,877 at 32 people per square mile, while ZIP 40509 has 32,364 at 304 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 40516 reports a median household income of $84,510 against $94,804 in ZIP 40509, with per-capita income of $43,141 vs $51,034. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 38.2% in 40516 and 57.4% in 40509. Poverty rate reads 15.5% vs 8.4%, and unemployment 0.5% vs 3.5% — 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 $264,100 in 40516 versus $366,300 in 40509, with median rent of $1,114 and $1,394 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.3% vs 60.7%. 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.