ZIP 48761 vs ZIP 48743

This side-by-side compares ZIP 48761 (South Branch, MI) and ZIP 48743 (Long Lake, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 48761 has a population of 1,026 at 5 people per square mile, while ZIP 48743 has 63 at 12 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 48761 reports a median household income of $47,188 against — in ZIP 48743, with per-capita income of $29,270 vs $26,917. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.9% in 48761 and 0.0% in 48743. Poverty rate reads 18.4% vs 30.0%, and unemployment 5.8% vs 0.0% — 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 $111,200 in 48761 versus — in 48743, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 87.1% vs 100.0%. 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.