ZIP 49870 vs ZIP 49876

This side-by-side compares ZIP 49870 (Norway, MI) and ZIP 49876 (Quinnesec, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 49870 has a population of 3,329 at 23 people per square mile, while ZIP 49876 has 1,240 at 138 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 49870 reports a median household income of $75,179 against $39,853 in ZIP 49876, with per-capita income of $34,965 vs $28,296. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.9% in 49870 and 9.3% in 49876. Poverty rate reads 11.8% vs 26.7%, and unemployment 0.4% vs 0.5% — 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 $121,100 in 49870 versus $154,900 in 49876, with median rent of $870 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.1% vs 94.4%. 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.