ZIP 49880 vs ZIP 49872

This side-by-side compares ZIP 49880 (Rock, MI) and ZIP 49872 (Perkins, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 49880 has a population of 1,142 at 2 people per square mile, while ZIP 49872 has 206 at 4 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 49880 reports a median household income of $64,013 against $53,281 in ZIP 49872, with per-capita income of $34,605 vs $25,916. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.3% in 49880 and 4.2% in 49872. Poverty rate reads 11.9% vs 5.6%, and unemployment 4.5% vs 5.9% — 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 $157,400 in 49880 versus $166,900 in 49872, with median rent of $725 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 94.0% vs 95.6%. 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.