ZIP 14850 vs ZIP 14853

This side-by-side compares ZIP 14850 (Ithaca, NY) and ZIP 14853 (Ithaca, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 14850 has a population of 63,886 at 196 people per square mile, while ZIP 14853 has 2,755 at 4,544 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 14850 reports a median household income of $71,445 against — in ZIP 14853, with per-capita income of $43,541 vs $3,201. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 70.6% in 14850 and 75.7% in 14853. Poverty rate reads 19.6% vs —, and unemployment 5.7% vs 3.5% — 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 $353,500 in 14850 versus — in 14853, with median rent of $1,480 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 44.8% vs —. 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.