ZIP 56461 vs ZIP 56458

This side-by-side compares ZIP 56461 (Laporte, MN) and ZIP 56458 (Lake George, MN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 56461 has a population of 3,241 at 5 people per square mile, while ZIP 56458 has 357 at 5 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 56461 reports a median household income of $78,188 against $85,625 in ZIP 56458, with per-capita income of $39,187 vs $36,440. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 29.5% in 56461 and 32.4% in 56458. Poverty rate reads 8.5% vs 5.4%, and unemployment 2.9% vs 10.4% - 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 $273,700 in 56461 versus $308,900 in 56458, with median rent of $988 and $1,208 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 92.1% vs 95.5%. 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.