ZIP 54534 vs ZIP 54547

This side-by-side compares ZIP 54534 (Hurley, WI) and ZIP 54547 (Mercer, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 54534 has a population of 2,459 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 54547 has 1,392 at 3 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 54534 reports a median household income of $53,468 against $63,500 in ZIP 54547, with per-capita income of $36,261 vs $38,471. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.1% in 54534 and 36.6% in 54547. Poverty rate reads 10.9% vs 9.0%, and unemployment 2.5% vs 0.7% - 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 $123,600 in 54534 versus $306,600 in 54547, with median rent of $688 and $334 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.9% vs 90.0%. 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.