ZIP 49836 vs ZIP 49840

This side-by-side compares ZIP 49836 (Germfask, MI) and ZIP 49840 (Gulliver, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 49836 has a population of 938 at 4 people per square mile, while ZIP 49840 has 771 at 2 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 49836 reports a median household income of $85,500 against $61,250 in ZIP 49840, with per-capita income of $41,282 vs $42,586. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 23.4% in 49836 and 16.9% in 49840. Poverty rate reads 8.0% vs 19.5%, and unemployment 6.8% vs 11.4% — 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 $210,100 in 49836 versus $180,500 in 49840, with median rent of $592 and $1,167 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 91.2% vs 93.3%. 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.