ZIP 49831 vs ZIP 49877

This side-by-side compares ZIP 49831 (Felch, MI) and ZIP 49877 (Ralph, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 49831 has a population of 780 at 3 people per square mile, while ZIP 49877 has 67 at 0 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 49831 reports a median household income of $66,750 against $81,458 in ZIP 49877, with per-capita income of $36,333 vs $49,570. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.3% in 49831 and 3.6% in 49877. Poverty rate reads 5.6% vs 5.4%, and unemployment 0.9% vs 0.0% — 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 $124,800 in 49831 versus $137,500 in 49877, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 95.3% vs 94.7%. 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.