ZIP 61101 vs ZIP 61103

This side-by-side compares ZIP 61101 (Rockford, IL) and ZIP 61103 (Rockford, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 61101 has a population of 21,593 at 200 people per square mile, while ZIP 61103 has 24,578 at 550 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 61101 reports a median household income of $46,163 against $51,161 in ZIP 61103, with per-capita income of $24,971 vs $30,331. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.6% in 61101 and 19.7% in 61103. Poverty rate reads 30.9% vs 20.7%, and unemployment 12.2% vs 7.5% — 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 $90,600 in 61101 versus $115,500 in 61103, with median rent of $1,037 and $934 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 51.4% vs 51.6%. 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.