ZIP 47855 vs ZIP 47879

This side-by-side compares ZIP 47855 (Hymera, IN) and ZIP 47879 (Shelburn, IN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 47855 has a population of 546 at 264 people per square mile, while ZIP 47879 has 3,302 at 22 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 47855 reports a median household income of $47,102 against $54,750 in ZIP 47879, with per-capita income of $21,480 vs $31,542. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 5.6% in 47855 and 12.7% in 47879. Poverty rate reads 13.0% vs 15.5%, and unemployment 12.5% vs 5.3% — 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 $90,500 in 47855 versus $93,500 in 47879, with median rent of $873 and $762 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 62.7% vs 77.9%. 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.