ZIP 14204 vs ZIP 14203

This side-by-side compares ZIP 14204 (Buffalo, NY) and ZIP 14203 (Buffalo, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 14204 has a population of 8,691 at 1,868 people per square mile, while ZIP 14203 has 1,618 at 236 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 14204 reports a median household income of $28,182 against $56,141 in ZIP 14203, with per-capita income of $24,351 vs $44,349. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.5% in 14204 and 49.4% in 14203. Poverty rate reads 37.7% vs 32.0%, and unemployment 5.6% vs 3.3% — 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 $152,400 in 14204 versus — in 14203, with median rent of $851 and $1,331 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 26.5% vs 2.7%. 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.