ZIP 49449 vs ZIP 49420

This side-by-side compares ZIP 49449 (Pentwater, MI) and ZIP 49420 (Hart, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 49449 has a population of 2,675 at 25 people per square mile, while ZIP 49420 has 6,420 at 21 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 49449 reports a median household income of $80,917 against $58,841 in ZIP 49420, with per-capita income of $50,128 vs $31,334. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 46.1% in 49449 and 19.1% in 49420. Poverty rate reads 9.6% vs 14.8%, and unemployment 4.7% vs 5.1% — 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 $307,300 in 49449 versus $167,000 in 49420, with median rent of $665 and $753 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 89.9% vs 80.7%. 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.