ZIP 48883 vs ZIP 48880

This side-by-side compares ZIP 48883 (Shepherd, MI) and ZIP 48880 (Saint Louis, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 48883 has a population of 7,122 at 23 people per square mile, while ZIP 48880 has 10,669 at 55 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 48883 reports a median household income of $65,223 against $59,922 in ZIP 48880, with per-capita income of $30,355 vs $19,813. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 23.3% in 48883 and 9.4% in 48880. Poverty rate reads 12.7% vs 10.2%, and unemployment 6.0% vs 3.5% — 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 $160,300 in 48883 versus $144,900 in 48880, with median rent of $842 and $802 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 87.6% vs 79.2%. 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.