ZIP 49911 vs ZIP 49959

This side-by-side compares ZIP 49911 (Bessemer, MI) and ZIP 49959 (Ramsay, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 49911 has a population of 2,744 at 26 people per square mile, while ZIP 49959 has 344 at 188 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 49911 reports a median household income of $57,000 against $47,500 in ZIP 49959, with per-capita income of $31,597 vs $24,016. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 21.8% in 49911 and 10.0% in 49959. Poverty rate reads 15.5% vs 22.8%, and unemployment 6.8% 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 $106,300 in 49911 versus $65,600 in 49959, with median rent of $579 and - per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.7% vs 90.2%. 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.