ZIP 54817 vs ZIP 54857

This side-by-side compares ZIP 54817 (Birchwood, WI) and ZIP 54857 (Mikana, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 54817 has a population of 2,188 at 5 people per square mile, while ZIP 54857 has 62 at 85 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 54817 reports a median household income of $83,036 against $96,667 in ZIP 54857, with per-capita income of $44,392 vs $39,809. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 29.3% in 54817 and 0.0% in 54857. Poverty rate reads 13.6% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 2.0% 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 $275,000 in 54817 versus — in 54857, with median rent of $824 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.4% vs 70.0%. 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.