ZIP 59538 vs ZIP 59524

This side-by-side compares ZIP 59538 (Malta, MT) and ZIP 59524 (Dodson, MT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 59538 has a population of 3,037 at 1 people per square mile, while ZIP 59524 has 663 at 0 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 59538 reports a median household income of $57,097 against $48,000 in ZIP 59524, with per-capita income of $37,618 vs $19,672. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 27.3% in 59538 and 11.5% in 59524. Poverty rate reads 8.2% vs 15.4%, and unemployment 0.4% vs 11.9% - 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 $191,800 in 59538 versus $62,100 in 59524, with median rent of $631 and $527 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.6% vs 79.1%. 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.