ZIP 59918 vs ZIP 59933

This side-by-side compares ZIP 59918 (Fortine, MT) and ZIP 59933 (Stryker, MT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 59918 has a population of 592 at 3 people per square mile, while ZIP 59933 has 43 at 2 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 59918 reports a median household income of $67,250 against — in ZIP 59933, with per-capita income of $43,770 vs —. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 27.0% in 59918 and 100.0% in 59933. Poverty rate reads 14.9% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 9.4% vs — — 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 $353,300 in 59918 versus — in 59933, with median rent of $1,308 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 87.6% vs 0.0%. 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.