ZIP 61111 vs ZIP 61114

This side-by-side compares ZIP 61111 (Loves Park, IL) and ZIP 61114 (Rockford, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 61111 has a population of 23,492 at 637 people per square mile, while ZIP 61114 has 15,776 at 766 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 61111 reports a median household income of $61,393 against $85,568 in ZIP 61114, with per-capita income of $36,240 vs $47,093. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 25.0% in 61111 and 46.1% in 61114. Poverty rate reads 14.4% vs 7.9%, and unemployment 6.1% vs 3.4% — 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 $158,600 in 61111 versus $204,300 in 61114, with median rent of $1,119 and $1,288 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 60.4% vs 71.1%. 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.