ZIP 34488 vs ZIP 34472

This side-by-side compares ZIP 34488 (Silver Springs, FL) and ZIP 34472 (Ocala, FL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 34488 has a population of 10,291 at 41 people per square mile, while ZIP 34472 has 25,968 at 273 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 34488 reports a median household income of $43,438 against $64,208 in ZIP 34472, with per-capita income of $28,656 vs $28,132. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.8% in 34488 and 18.5% in 34472. Poverty rate reads 18.3% vs 12.5%, and unemployment 3.6% vs 3.6% — 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 $90,300 in 34488 versus $202,500 in 34472, with median rent of $1,116 and $1,422 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 72.6% vs 80.1%. 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.