ZIP 49676 vs ZIP 49612

This side-by-side compares ZIP 49676 (Rapid City, MI) and ZIP 49612 (Alden, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 49676 has a population of 3,407 at 31 people per square mile, while ZIP 49612 has 1,121 at 18 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 49676 reports a median household income of $75,781 against $85,156 in ZIP 49612, with per-capita income of $43,208 vs $54,663. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 33.0% in 49676 and 43.2% in 49612. Poverty rate reads 8.3% vs 3.6%, and unemployment 4.5% vs 2.2% — 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 $269,300 in 49676 versus $271,000 in 49612, with median rent of $965 and $857 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 90.8% vs 89.8%. 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.