ZIP 53502 vs ZIP 53521

This side-by-side compares ZIP 53502 (Albany, WI) and ZIP 53521 (Brooklyn, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 53502 has a population of 2,421 at 18 people per square mile, while ZIP 53521 has 3,656 at 23 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 53502 reports a median household income of $87,000 against $108,036 in ZIP 53521, with per-capita income of $44,518 vs $47,112. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 24.5% in 53502 and 35.4% in 53521. Poverty rate reads 8.4% vs 3.6%, and unemployment 1.7% vs 2.3% — 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 $252,300 in 53502 versus $391,100 in 53521, with median rent of $856 and $1,201 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 84.5% vs 88.3%. 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.