ZIP 49801 vs ZIP 49802

This side-by-side compares ZIP 49801 (Iron Mountain, MI) and ZIP 49802 (Kingsford, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 49801 has a population of 11,424 at 29 people per square mile, while ZIP 49802 has 6,230 at 304 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 49801 reports a median household income of $67,337 against $62,209 in ZIP 49802, with per-capita income of $38,280 vs $33,594. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 24.9% in 49801 and 28.6% in 49802. Poverty rate reads 10.6% vs 8.3%, and unemployment 4.4% vs 5.5% — 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 $168,700 in 49801 versus $126,500 in 49802, with median rent of $747 and $917 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.6% vs 79.8%. 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.