ZIP 53511 vs ZIP 53501

This side-by-side compares ZIP 53511 (Beloit, WI) and ZIP 53501 (Afton, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 53511 has a population of 48,929 at 171 people per square mile, while ZIP 53501 has 23 at 136 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 53511 reports a median household income of $67,067 against — in ZIP 53501, with per-capita income of $33,498 vs —. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 19.4% in 53511 and 0.0% in 53501. Poverty rate reads 12.4% vs 48.5%, and unemployment 4.9% 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 $173,500 in 53511 versus — in 53501, with median rent of $1,057 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 65.9% vs 0.0%. 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.