ZIP 54525 vs ZIP 54534

This side-by-side compares ZIP 54525 (Gile, WI) and ZIP 54534 (Hurley, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 54525 has a population of 279 at 153 people per square mile, while ZIP 54534 has 2,459 at 7 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 54525 reports a median household income of $74,375 against $53,468 in ZIP 54534, with per-capita income of $39,536 vs $36,261. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 32.9% in 54525 and 20.1% in 54534. Poverty rate reads 17.7% vs 10.9%, and unemployment 6.5% vs 2.5% - 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 $81,000 in 54525 versus $123,600 in 54534, with median rent of $570 and $688 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.5% vs 81.9%. 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.