ZIP 61115 vs ZIP 61111

This side-by-side compares ZIP 61115 (Machesney Park, IL) and ZIP 61111 (Loves Park, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 61115 has a population of 23,180 at 842 people per square mile, while ZIP 61111 has 23,492 at 637 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 61115 reports a median household income of $75,363 against $61,393 in ZIP 61111, with per-capita income of $36,535 vs $36,240. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 19.3% in 61115 and 25.0% in 61111. Poverty rate reads 13.8% vs 14.4%, and unemployment 7.2% vs 6.1% — 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 $172,600 in 61115 versus $158,600 in 61111, with median rent of $1,104 and $1,119 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 79.5% vs 60.4%. 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.