ZIP 55601 vs ZIP 55614

This side-by-side compares ZIP 55601 (Beaver Bay, MN) and ZIP 55614 (Silver Bay, MN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 55601 has a population of 105 at 3 people per square mile, while ZIP 55614 has 2,627 at 4 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 55601 reports a median household income of $56,250 against $72,981 in ZIP 55614, with per-capita income of $34,602 vs $45,373. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.8% in 55601 and 24.9% in 55614. Poverty rate reads 14.8% vs 9.7%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 2.1% - 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 $242,400 in 55601 versus $181,700 in 55614, with median rent of - and $1,138 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 96.8% vs 85.5%. 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.