ZIP 56754 vs ZIP 56701

This side-by-side compares ZIP 56754 (Saint Hilaire, MN) and ZIP 56701 (Thief River Falls, MN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 56754 has a population of 546 at 6 people per square mile, while ZIP 56701 has 12,690 at 13 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 56754 reports a median household income of $79,167 against $78,599 in ZIP 56701, with per-capita income of $40,645 vs $42,179. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.1% in 56754 and 21.5% in 56701. Poverty rate reads 10.2% vs 10.1%, and unemployment 1.1% vs 2.7% — 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 $215,800 in 56754 versus $196,000 in 56701, with median rent of $1,031 and $856 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 84.3% vs 71.1%. 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.