ZIP 98438 vs ZIP 98439

This side-by-side compares ZIP 98438 (Mcchord Afb, WA) and ZIP 98439 (Lakewood, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 98438 has a population of 366 at 167 people per square mile, while ZIP 98439 has 4,839 at 214 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 98438 reports a median household income of — against $50,509 in ZIP 98439, with per-capita income of $27,455 vs $22,112. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 44.3% in 98438 and 10.4% in 98439. Poverty rate reads 53.4% vs 14.7%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 8.1% — 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 — in 98438 versus — in 98439, with median rent of — and $1,873 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 37.9% vs 9.2%. 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.