ZIP 61455 vs ZIP 61438

This side-by-side compares ZIP 61455 (Macomb, IL) and ZIP 61438 (Good Hope, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 61455 has a population of 22,086 at 50 people per square mile, while ZIP 61438 has 760 at 7 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 61455 reports a median household income of $48,679 against $68,516 in ZIP 61438, with per-capita income of $31,549 vs $37,238. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 38.0% in 61455 and 26.6% in 61438. Poverty rate reads 22.4% vs 4.2%, and unemployment 9.6% 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 $120,100 in 61455 versus $148,200 in 61438, with median rent of $768 and $788 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 54.9% vs 83.7%. 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.