ZIP 48401 vs ZIP 48419

This side-by-side compares ZIP 48401 (Applegate, MI) and ZIP 48419 (Carsonville, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 48401 has a population of 1,439 at 17 people per square mile, while ZIP 48419 has 2,740 at 14 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 48401 reports a median household income of $70,536 against $59,485 in ZIP 48419, with per-capita income of $37,096 vs $34,464. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 13.9% in 48401 and 17.3% in 48419. Poverty rate reads 13.4% vs 10.3%, and unemployment 3.0% vs 6.4% — 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 $162,700 in 48401 versus $172,900 in 48419, with median rent of $938 and $846 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.2% vs 88.6%. 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.