ZIP 60304 vs ZIP 60302

This side-by-side compares ZIP 60304 (Oak Park, IL) and ZIP 60302 (Oak Park, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 60304 has a population of 17,231 at 4,342 people per square mile, while ZIP 60302 has 32,108 at 4,117 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 60304 reports a median household income of $136,178 against $100,680 in ZIP 60302, with per-capita income of $66,770 vs $73,279. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 73.7% in 60304 and 71.9% in 60302. Poverty rate reads 7.3% vs 7.1%, and unemployment 5.0% vs 6.4% — 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 $466,700 in 60304 versus $474,200 in 60302, with median rent of $1,388 and $1,437 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 71.6% vs 61.6%. 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.