ZIP 48708 vs ZIP 48732

This side-by-side compares ZIP 48708 (Bay City, MI) and ZIP 48732 (Essexville, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 48708 has a population of 27,262 at 378 people per square mile, while ZIP 48732 has 11,483 at 180 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 48708 reports a median household income of $50,518 against $57,903 in ZIP 48732, with per-capita income of $30,952 vs $32,246. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.8% in 48708 and 22.1% in 48732. Poverty rate reads 18.3% vs 14.3%, and unemployment 6.8% vs 3.2% — 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 $107,700 in 48708 versus $169,600 in 48732, with median rent of $751 and $840 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.1% vs 68.4%. 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.