ZIP 48073 vs ZIP 48017

This side-by-side compares ZIP 48073 (Royal Oak, MI) and ZIP 48017 (Clawson, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 48073 has a population of 32,798 at 1,716 people per square mile, while ZIP 48017 has 11,805 at 2,076 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 48073 reports a median household income of $91,627 against $88,812 in ZIP 48017, with per-capita income of $60,812 vs $52,175. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 60.7% in 48073 and 45.8% in 48017. Poverty rate reads 6.2% vs 5.7%, and unemployment 3.0% vs 4.9% — 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 $323,600 in 48073 versus $267,500 in 48017, with median rent of $1,283 and $1,254 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 68.4% vs 75.4%. 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.