ZIP 55089 vs ZIP 54014

This side-by-side compares ZIP 55089 (Welch, MN) and ZIP 54014 (Hager City, WI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 55089 has a population of 1,814 at 12 people per square mile, while ZIP 54014 has 2,232 at 20 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 55089 reports a median household income of $108,750 against $101,667 in ZIP 54014, with per-capita income of $49,289 vs $49,120. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 30.5% in 55089 and 25.6% in 54014. Poverty rate reads 11.4% vs 4.4%, and unemployment 1.2% vs 5.2% — 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 $384,800 in 55089 versus $302,900 in 54014, with median rent of $1,679 and $1,065 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 90.3% vs 90.1%. 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.