ZIP 00959 vs ZIP 00961

This side-by-side compares ZIP 00959 (Bayamon, PR) and ZIP 00961 (Bayamon, PR) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 00959 has a population of 50,560 at 3,043 people per square mile, while ZIP 00961 has 32,429 at 2,419 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 00959 reports a median household income of $31,572 against $39,393 in ZIP 00961, with per-capita income of $20,295 vs $25,138. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 37.4% in 00959 and 38.8% in 00961. Poverty rate reads 33.9% vs 27.3%, and unemployment 6.5% vs 8.8% — 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 $152,900 in 00959 versus $167,600 in 00961, with median rent of $677 and $767 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 66.5% vs 73.0%. 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.