ZIP 49886 vs ZIP 49874

This side-by-side compares ZIP 49886 (Spalding, MI) and ZIP 49874 (Powers, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 49886 has a population of 435 at 11 people per square mile, while ZIP 49874 has 1,126 at 11 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 49886 reports a median household income of $77,500 against $62,500 in ZIP 49874, with per-capita income of $40,247 vs $31,775. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 10.2% in 49886 and 15.0% in 49874. Poverty rate reads 5.9% vs 8.9%, and unemployment 13.2% vs 2.4% — 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 $157,200 in 49886 versus $193,900 in 49874, with median rent of — and $450 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 94.6% vs 83.7%. 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.