ZIP 54531 vs ZIP 54548

This side-by-side compares ZIP 54531 (Hazelhurst, WI) and ZIP 54548 (Minocqua, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 54531 has a population of 1,454 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 54548 has 4,626 at 20 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 54531 reports a median household income of $84,286 against $69,569 in ZIP 54548, with per-capita income of $57,525 vs $51,650. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 35.0% in 54531 and 31.7% in 54548. Poverty rate reads 4.5% vs 6.8%, and unemployment 1.6% vs 2.7% — 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 $344,900 in 54531 versus $336,400 in 54548, with median rent of $850 and $962 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 94.4% vs 74.2%. 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.