ZIP 58736 vs ZIP 58712

This side-by-side compares ZIP 58736 (Drake, ND) and ZIP 58712 (Balfour, ND) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 58736 has a population of 452 at 1 people per square mile, while ZIP 58712 has 155 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 58736 reports a median household income of $56,103 against $37,500 in ZIP 58712, with per-capita income of $38,217 vs $72,310. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.0% in 58736 and 18.4% in 58712. Poverty rate reads 14.3% vs 11.5%, and unemployment 8.5% 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 $78,200 in 58736 versus $104,700 in 58712, with median rent of $765 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.3% vs 90.0%. 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.