ZIP 49796 vs ZIP 49712

This side-by-side compares ZIP 49796 (Walloon Lake, MI) and ZIP 49712 (Boyne City, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 49796 has a population of 320 at 61 people per square mile, while ZIP 49712 has 7,890 at 43 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 49796 reports a median household income of $87,434 against $74,033 in ZIP 49712, with per-capita income of $78,342 vs $46,413. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 49.3% in 49796 and 34.0% in 49712. Poverty rate reads 3.6% vs 7.0%, and unemployment 1.3% vs 4.0% — 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 $282,300 in 49796 versus $294,800 in 49712, with median rent of — and $941 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 85.9% vs 81.0%. 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.