ZIP 54889 vs ZIP 54826

This side-by-side compares ZIP 54889 (Turtle Lake, WI) and ZIP 54826 (Comstock, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 54889 has a population of 2,742 at 15 people per square mile, while ZIP 54826 has 807 at 6 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 54889 reports a median household income of $77,143 against $94,750 in ZIP 54826, with per-capita income of $45,345 vs $51,891. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 25.7% in 54889 and 15.3% in 54826. Poverty rate reads 6.9% vs 10.5%, and unemployment 1.7% vs 2.0% — 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 $257,100 in 54889 versus $266,700 in 54826, with median rent of $846 and $986 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 80.2% vs 88.4%. 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.