ZIP 56757 vs ZIP 56720

This side-by-side compares ZIP 56757 (Stephen, MN) and ZIP 56720 (Donaldson, MN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 56757 has a population of 932 at 2 people per square mile, while ZIP 56720 has 57 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 56757 reports a median household income of $80,938 against — in ZIP 56720, with per-capita income of $38,623 vs $35,807. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 23.9% in 56757 and 28.6% in 56720. Poverty rate reads 9.2% vs 20.0%, and unemployment 4.5% vs 0.0% — 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 $131,800 in 56757 versus — in 56720, with median rent of $1,600 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 89.2% vs 100.0%. 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.