ZIP 98327 vs ZIP 98433

This side-by-side compares ZIP 98327 (Dupont, WA) and ZIP 98433 (Tacoma, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 98327 has a population of 8,267 at 466 people per square mile, while ZIP 98433 has 14,584 at 286 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 98327 reports a median household income of $120,781 against $60,158 in ZIP 98433, with per-capita income of $53,722 vs $25,582. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 53.6% in 98327 and 25.4% in 98433. Poverty rate reads 4.6% vs 13.0%, and unemployment 4.6% vs 1.7% — 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 $583,600 in 98327 versus — in 98433, with median rent of $2,322 and $2,312 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 61.5% vs 0.9%. 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.