ZIP 61375 vs ZIP 61541

This side-by-side compares ZIP 61375 (Varna, IL) and ZIP 61541 (La Rose, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 61375 has a population of 1,156 at 9 people per square mile, while ZIP 61541 has 136 at 320 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 61375 reports a median household income of $81,293 against $41,875 in ZIP 61541, with per-capita income of $38,528 vs $33,026. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 12.0% in 61375 and 2.6% in 61541. Poverty rate reads 8.3% vs 16.5%, and unemployment 2.4% vs 21.4% — 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 $164,900 in 61375 versus $72,900 in 61541, with median rent of $833 and $1,014 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 93.0% vs 67.9%. 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.