ZIP 55076 vs ZIP 55071

This side-by-side compares ZIP 55076 (Inver Grove Heights, MN) and ZIP 55071 (Saint Paul Park, MN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 55076 has a population of 21,323 at 901 people per square mile, while ZIP 55071 has 5,569 at 419 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 55076 reports a median household income of $93,847 against $100,798 in ZIP 55071, with per-capita income of $51,885 vs $44,203. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 39.3% in 55076 and 24.9% in 55071. Poverty rate reads 5.4% vs 5.0%, and unemployment 3.7% 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 $323,000 in 55076 versus $267,500 in 55071, with median rent of $1,374 and $2,171 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 86.0% vs 76.9%. 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.