ZIP 49103 vs ZIP 49104

This side-by-side compares ZIP 49103 (Berrien Springs, MI) and ZIP 49104 (Berrien Springs, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 49103 has a population of 11,082 at 96 people per square mile, while ZIP 49104 has 868 at 2,105 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 49103 reports a median household income of $65,827 against — in ZIP 49104, with per-capita income of $35,017 vs $3,551. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 53.8% in 49103 and 100.0% in 49104. Poverty rate reads 17.3% vs —, and unemployment 3.1% vs 0.4% — 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 $229,400 in 49103 versus — in 49104, with median rent of $921 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 63.0% vs —. 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.