ZIP 55717 vs ZIP 55724

This side-by-side compares ZIP 55717 (Canyon, MN) and ZIP 55724 (Cotton, MN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 55717 has a population of 335 at 1 people per square mile, while ZIP 55724 has 741 at 1 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 55717 reports a median household income of $97,222 against $75,313 in ZIP 55724, with per-capita income of $51,127 vs $44,174. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 23.6% in 55717 and 27.9% in 55724. Poverty rate reads 4.9% vs 6.9%, and unemployment 4.4% vs 3.1% — 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 $317,400 in 55717 versus $226,600 in 55724, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 92.2% vs 93.4%. 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.