ZIP 54550 vs ZIP 54534

This side-by-side compares ZIP 54550 (Montreal, 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 54550 has a population of 685 at 11 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 54550 reports a median household income of $64,583 against $53,468 in ZIP 54534, with per-capita income of $37,454 vs $36,261. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 24.2% in 54550 and 20.1% in 54534. Poverty rate reads 11.2% vs 10.9%, and unemployment 1.9% 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 $112,200 in 54550 versus $123,600 in 54534, with median rent of $813 and $688 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 95.3% 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.