ZIP 54868 vs ZIP 54841

This side-by-side compares ZIP 54868 (Rice Lake, WI) and ZIP 54841 (Haugen, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 54868 has a population of 15,512 at 29 people per square mile, while ZIP 54841 has 259 at 277 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 54868 reports a median household income of $64,318 against $76,250 in ZIP 54841, with per-capita income of $39,633 vs $35,634. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 26.1% in 54868 and 14.9% in 54841. Poverty rate reads 9.3% vs 8.5%, and unemployment 2.6% 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 $227,800 in 54868 versus $144,200 in 54841, with median rent of $872 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 69.9% vs 77.6%. 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.