ZIP 61421 vs ZIP 61426

This side-by-side compares ZIP 61421 (Bradford, IL) and ZIP 61426 (Castleton, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 61421 has a population of 1,392 at 6 people per square mile, while ZIP 61426 has 107 at 13 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 61421 reports a median household income of $65,833 against — in ZIP 61426, with per-capita income of $35,322 vs —. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.2% in 61421 and 51.6% in 61426. Poverty rate reads 14.4% vs 36.6%, and unemployment 1.7% vs 0.0% — 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 $91,300 in 61421 versus — in 61426, with median rent of $841 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 84.2% vs 100.0%. 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.