ZIP 46637 vs ZIP 46556

This side-by-side compares ZIP 46637 (South Bend, IN) and ZIP 46556 (Notre Dame, IN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 46637 has a population of 15,314 at 613 people per square mile, while ZIP 46556 has 7,314 at 1,399 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 46637 reports a median household income of $71,462 against — in ZIP 46556, with per-capita income of $41,732 vs $7,480. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 39.9% in 46637 and 70.9% in 46556. Poverty rate reads 11.3% vs 46.6%, and unemployment 5.9% vs 2.6% — 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 $207,100 in 46637 versus — in 46556, with median rent of $1,163 and $1,211 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 68.4% vs 3.5%. 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.