ZIP 48726 vs ZIP 48729

This side-by-side compares ZIP 48726 (Cass City, MI) and ZIP 48729 (Deford, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 48726 has a population of 6,172 at 19 people per square mile, while ZIP 48729 has 1,586 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 48726 reports a median household income of $65,087 against $60,776 in ZIP 48729, with per-capita income of $30,760 vs $34,926. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.7% in 48726 and 11.0% in 48729. Poverty rate reads 15.0% vs 9.2%, and unemployment 7.0% vs 4.0% — 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 $128,300 in 48726 versus $211,700 in 48729, with median rent of $787 and $612 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 85.1% vs 87.7%. 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.