ZIP 48864 vs ZIP 48825

This side-by-side compares ZIP 48864 (Okemos, MI) and ZIP 48825 (East Lansing, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 48864 has a population of 20,148 at 361 people per square mile, while ZIP 48825 has 12,596 at 3,920 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 48864 reports a median household income of $121,103 against — in ZIP 48825, with per-capita income of $63,593 vs $12,127. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 75.5% in 48864 and 59.4% in 48825. Poverty rate reads 5.9% vs 100.0%, and unemployment 2.2% vs 10.2% — 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 $378,700 in 48864 versus — in 48825, with median rent of $1,334 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 67.8% vs 0.0%. 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.