ZIP 48858 vs ZIP 48883

This side-by-side compares ZIP 48858 (Mount Pleasant, MI) and ZIP 48883 (Shepherd, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 48858 has a population of 50,025 at 112 people per square mile, while ZIP 48883 has 7,122 at 23 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 48858 reports a median household income of $51,267 against $65,223 in ZIP 48883, with per-capita income of $31,131 vs $30,355. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 36.7% in 48858 and 23.3% in 48883. Poverty rate reads 25.9% vs 12.7%, and unemployment 6.6% vs 6.0% — 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 $170,800 in 48858 versus $160,300 in 48883, with median rent of $913 and $842 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 49.8% vs 87.6%. 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.