ZIP 54642 vs ZIP 54644

This side-by-side compares ZIP 54642 (Melrose, WI) and ZIP 54644 (Mindoro, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 54642 has a population of 2,125 at 9 people per square mile, while ZIP 54644 has 1,434 at 9 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 54642 reports a median household income of $73,452 against $77,143 in ZIP 54644, with per-capita income of $37,757 vs $37,987. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 18.3% in 54642 and 18.3% in 54644. Poverty rate reads 15.5% vs 11.7%, and unemployment 3.6% vs 4.4% — 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 $210,600 in 54642 versus $256,500 in 54644, with median rent of $872 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 84.1% vs 99.1%. 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.