ZIP 56303 vs ZIP 56387

This side-by-side compares ZIP 56303 (Saint Cloud, MN) and ZIP 56387 (Waite Park, MN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 56303 has a population of 25,984 at 899 people per square mile, while ZIP 56387 has 6,734 at 307 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 56303 reports a median household income of $65,198 against $59,009 in ZIP 56387, with per-capita income of $35,014 vs $29,733. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 30.9% in 56303 and 21.8% in 56387. Poverty rate reads 16.4% vs 22.4%, and unemployment 3.0% vs 7.4% — 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 $205,200 in 56303 versus $232,200 in 56387, with median rent of $927 and $1,129 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 63.3% vs 48.7%. 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.