ZIP 47342 vs ZIP 46957

This side-by-side compares ZIP 47342 (Gaston, IN) and ZIP 46957 (Matthews, IN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 47342 has a population of 2,693 at 21 people per square mile, while ZIP 46957 has 558 at 453 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 47342 reports a median household income of $75,030 against $49,444 in ZIP 46957, with per-capita income of $29,705 vs $25,087. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.5% in 47342 and 6.5% in 46957. Poverty rate reads 15.0% vs 17.0%, and unemployment 6.0% vs 4.5% — 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 $173,300 in 47342 versus $79,500 in 46957, with median rent of $900 and $1,029 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 79.8% vs 81.5%. 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.