ZIP 57642 vs ZIP 57658

This side-by-side compares ZIP 57642 (Mc Laughlin, SD) and ZIP 57658 (Wakpala, SD) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 57642 has a population of 1,917 at 1 people per square mile, while ZIP 57658 has 446 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 57642 reports a median household income of $58,750 against $23,000 in ZIP 57658, with per-capita income of $24,031 vs $9,880. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 19.5% in 57642 and 14.8% in 57658. Poverty rate reads 43.5% vs 56.2%, and unemployment 23.9% vs 55.3% - 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 $70,000 in 57642 versus $85,000 in 57658, with median rent of $586 and $450 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 53.3% vs 57.1%. 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.