ZIP 44054 vs ZIP 44055

This side-by-side compares ZIP 44054 (Sheffield Lake, OH) and ZIP 44055 (Lorain, OH) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 44054 has a population of 12,591 at 389 people per square mile, while ZIP 44055 has 19,846 at 1,153 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 44054 reports a median household income of $75,572 against $40,636 in ZIP 44055, with per-capita income of $41,598 vs $22,657. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 25.1% in 44054 and 9.1% in 44055. Poverty rate reads 10.8% vs 30.3%, and unemployment 3.5% vs 4.7% — 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 $184,400 in 44054 versus $101,400 in 44055, with median rent of $1,094 and $873 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 72.4% vs 52.7%. 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.