ZIP 58744 vs ZIP 58712

This side-by-side compares ZIP 58744 (Karlsruhe, 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 58744 has a population of 143 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 58744 reports a median household income of $80,000 against $37,500 in ZIP 58712, with per-capita income of $50,239 vs $72,310. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 13.4% in 58744 and 18.4% in 58712. Poverty rate reads 10.3% vs 11.5%, and unemployment 15.0% 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 $182,100 in 58744 versus $104,700 in 58712, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 96.4% 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.