ZIP 54403 vs ZIP 54417

This side-by-side compares ZIP 54403 (Wausau, WI) and ZIP 54417 (Brokaw, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 54403 has a population of 24,272 at 70 people per square mile, while ZIP 54417 has 46 at 57 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 54403 reports a median household income of $69,030 against — in ZIP 54417, with per-capita income of $39,420 vs —. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 34.4% in 54403 and 0.0% in 54417. Poverty rate reads 11.5% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 6.0% vs — — 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 $192,600 in 54403 versus — in 54417, with median rent of $1,009 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 65.0% vs 100.0%. 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.