ZIP 43512 vs ZIP 43526

This side-by-side compares ZIP 43512 (Defiance, OH) and ZIP 43526 (Hicksville, OH) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 43512 has a population of 28,674 at 51 people per square mile, while ZIP 43526 has 6,072 at 30 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 43512 reports a median household income of $71,841 against $66,912 in ZIP 43526, with per-capita income of $37,225 vs $28,463. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 19.2% in 43512 and 13.3% in 43526. Poverty rate reads 11.9% vs 6.3%, and unemployment 5.7% vs 4.4% — 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 $158,800 in 43512 versus $168,400 in 43526, with median rent of $860 and $777 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.4% vs 82.9%. 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.