ZIP 53170 vs ZIP 53168

This side-by-side compares ZIP 53170 (Silver Lake, WI) and ZIP 53168 (Salem, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 53170 has a population of 2,380 at 897 people per square mile, while ZIP 53168 has 8,643 at 95 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 53170 reports a median household income of $79,931 against $97,035 in ZIP 53168, with per-capita income of $40,197 vs $54,885. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 23.5% in 53170 and 27.8% in 53168. Poverty rate reads 5.2% vs 4.7%, and unemployment 5.2% vs 3.0% — 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 $284,400 in 53170 versus $300,200 in 53168, with median rent of $1,119 and $1,303 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 84.7% vs 80.3%. 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.