ZIP 48879 vs ZIP 48820

This side-by-side compares ZIP 48879 (Saint Johns, MI) and ZIP 48820 (Dewitt, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 48879 has a population of 18,075 at 37 people per square mile, while ZIP 48820 has 16,641 at 98 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 48879 reports a median household income of $79,129 against $112,526 in ZIP 48820, with per-capita income of $39,743 vs $53,152. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 24.6% in 48879 and 47.4% in 48820. Poverty rate reads 10.6% vs 4.6%, and unemployment 4.3% vs 3.0% — 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 $229,100 in 48879 versus $337,100 in 48820, with median rent of $922 and $1,159 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 82.1% vs 85.5%. 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.