ZIP 46565 vs ZIP 46540

This side-by-side compares ZIP 46565 (Shipshewana, IN) and ZIP 46540 (Middlebury, IN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 46565 has a population of 7,950 at 48 people per square mile, while ZIP 46540 has 11,702 at 74 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 46565 reports a median household income of $96,199 against $96,615 in ZIP 46540, with per-capita income of $34,178 vs $37,768. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 7.0% in 46565 and 20.2% in 46540. Poverty rate reads 3.0% vs 6.9%, and unemployment 1.8% vs 2.3% — 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 $340,400 in 46565 versus $313,700 in 46540, with median rent of $836 and $1,148 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 84.0% vs 84.7%. 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.