ZIP 48808 vs ZIP 48823

This side-by-side compares ZIP 48808 (Bath, MI) and ZIP 48823 (East Lansing, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 48808 has a population of 5,178 at 81 people per square mile, while ZIP 48823 has 51,302 at 884 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 48808 reports a median household income of $78,370 against $52,018 in ZIP 48823, with per-capita income of $48,624 vs $39,660. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 38.9% in 48808 and 63.1% in 48823. Poverty rate reads 8.2% vs 32.2%, and unemployment 4.7% vs 5.0% — 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 $258,200 in 48808 versus $282,600 in 48823, with median rent of $1,283 and $1,176 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 73.2% vs 42.2%. 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.