ZIP 54631 vs ZIP 54645

This side-by-side compares ZIP 54631 (Gays Mills, WI) and ZIP 54645 (Mount Sterling, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 54631 has a population of 1,844 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 54645 has 81 at 64 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 54631 reports a median household income of $65,417 against $50,833 in ZIP 54645, with per-capita income of $37,209 vs $21,772. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.8% in 54631 and 8.8% in 54645. Poverty rate reads 12.4% vs 12.4%, and unemployment 3.1% vs 0.0% — 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 $170,900 in 54631 versus $137,500 in 54645, with median rent of $805 and $675 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.0% vs 65.9%. 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.