ZIP 54542 vs ZIP 49915

This side-by-side compares ZIP 54542 (Long Lake, WI) and ZIP 49915 (Caspian, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 54542 has a population of 470 at 1 people per square mile, while ZIP 49915 has 630 at 270 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 54542 reports a median household income of $46,607 against $35,000 in ZIP 49915, with per-capita income of $25,783 vs $27,342. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.4% in 54542 and 13.7% in 49915. Poverty rate reads 12.7% vs 34.0%, and unemployment 0.9% vs 5.0% — 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 $122,000 in 54542 versus $79,100 in 49915, with median rent of $808 and $780 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 87.2% vs 83.0%. 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.