ZIP 53558 vs ZIP 53716

This side-by-side compares ZIP 53558 (Mc Farland, WI) and ZIP 53716 (Madison, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 53558 has a population of 10,742 at 239 people per square mile, while ZIP 53716 has 18,419 at 1,083 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 53558 reports a median household income of $107,609 against $91,716 in ZIP 53716, with per-capita income of $56,390 vs $51,360. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 50.2% in 53558 and 52.5% in 53716. Poverty rate reads 3.8% vs 8.6%, and unemployment 3.0% vs 3.2% — 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 $405,300 in 53558 versus $356,800 in 53716, with median rent of $1,550 and $1,336 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.0% vs 71.9%. 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.