ZIP 98360 vs ZIP 98338

This side-by-side compares ZIP 98360 (Orting, WA) and ZIP 98338 (Graham, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 98360 has a population of 12,221 at 68 people per square mile, while ZIP 98338 has 24,098 at 173 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 98360 reports a median household income of $125,842 against $114,819 in ZIP 98338, with per-capita income of $51,468 vs $43,700. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 24.5% in 98360 and 19.9% in 98338. Poverty rate reads 3.5% vs 6.9%, and unemployment 2.1% vs 5.6% — 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 $505,200 in 98360 versus $509,600 in 98338, with median rent of $2,231 and $1,854 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.9% vs 84.5%. 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.