ZIP 60941 vs ZIP 60917

This side-by-side compares ZIP 60941 (Herscher, IL) and ZIP 60917 (Buckingham, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 60941 has a population of 2,039 at 15 people per square mile, while ZIP 60917 has 574 at 6 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 60941 reports a median household income of $85,000 against $75,441 in ZIP 60917, with per-capita income of $39,238 vs $37,226. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 30.7% in 60941 and 14.7% in 60917. Poverty rate reads 14.1% vs 2.0%, and unemployment 7.7% vs 1.7% — 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 $205,900 in 60941 versus $194,600 in 60917, with median rent of $975 and $1,313 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 73.8% vs 95.3%. 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.