ZIP 57523 vs ZIP 57538

This side-by-side compares ZIP 57523 (Burke, SD) and ZIP 57538 (Herrick, SD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 57523 has a population of 1,094 at 2 people per square mile, while ZIP 57538 has 322 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 57523 reports a median household income of $68,750 against $46,875 in ZIP 57538, with per-capita income of $36,648 vs $70,644. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 26.3% in 57523 and 18.8% in 57538. Poverty rate reads 6.1% vs 1.7%, and unemployment 2.4% 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 $214,400 in 57523 versus $61,400 in 57538, with median rent of $525 and - per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 80.8% vs 92.5%. 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.