ZIP 55077 vs ZIP 55076

This side-by-side compares ZIP 55077 (Inver Grove Heights, MN) and ZIP 55076 (Inver Grove Heights, MN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 55077 has a population of 12,572 at 260 people per square mile, while ZIP 55076 has 21,323 at 901 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 55077 reports a median household income of $111,967 against $93,847 in ZIP 55076, with per-capita income of $60,862 vs $51,885. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 50.5% in 55077 and 39.3% in 55076. Poverty rate reads 4.1% vs 5.4%, and unemployment 3.6% vs 3.7% — 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 $540,900 in 55077 versus $323,000 in 55076, with median rent of $1,506 and $1,374 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 61.4% vs 86.0%. 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.