ZIP 57042 vs ZIP 57054

This side-by-side compares ZIP 57042 (Madison, SD) and ZIP 57054 (Ramona, SD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 57042 has a population of 8,415 at 16 people per square mile, while ZIP 57054 has 502 at 2 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 57042 reports a median household income of $71,868 against $86,875 in ZIP 57054, with per-capita income of $39,812 vs $39,061. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 36.6% in 57042 and 14.2% in 57054. Poverty rate reads 8.1% vs 20.1%, and unemployment 3.8% vs 0.3% - 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 $228,200 in 57042 versus $97,100 in 57054, with median rent of $963 and $850 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 67.4% vs 80.5%. 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.