ZIP 54849 vs ZIP 54842

This side-by-side compares ZIP 54849 (Lake Nebagamon, WI) and ZIP 54842 (Hawthorne, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 54849 has a population of 1,967 at 8 people per square mile, while ZIP 54842 has 185 at 11 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 54849 reports a median household income of $80,714 against $88,750 in ZIP 54842, with per-capita income of $43,676 vs $24,697. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 34.5% in 54849 and 23.2% in 54842. Poverty rate reads 5.4% vs 15.4%, and unemployment 2.3% vs 13.0% — 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 $261,000 in 54849 versus $264,100 in 54842, with median rent of $836 and $925 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 90.5% vs 91.0%. 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.