ZIP 46785 vs ZIP 46788

This side-by-side compares ZIP 46785 (Saint Joe, IN) and ZIP 46788 (Spencerville, IN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 46785 has a population of 1,542 at 24 people per square mile, while ZIP 46788 has 3,260 at 35 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 46785 reports a median household income of $63,250 against $101,553 in ZIP 46788, with per-capita income of $24,024 vs $34,657. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 6.5% in 46785 and 25.2% in 46788. Poverty rate reads 7.8% vs 5.2%, and unemployment 10.4% vs 8.1% — 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 $163,300 in 46785 versus $285,200 in 46788, with median rent of $855 and $1,799 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 84.6% vs 89.8%. 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.