ZIP 61764 vs ZIP 60420

This side-by-side compares ZIP 61764 (Pontiac, IL) and ZIP 60420 (Dwight, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 61764 has a population of 14,460 at 34 people per square mile, while ZIP 60420 has 6,102 at 23 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 61764 reports a median household income of $68,781 against $71,157 in ZIP 60420, with per-capita income of $33,274 vs $38,604. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.5% in 61764 and 20.4% in 60420. Poverty rate reads 14.0% vs 9.7%, and unemployment 4.3% vs 4.6% — 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 $127,400 in 61764 versus $167,100 in 60420, with median rent of $857 and $997 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 67.8% vs 68.7%. 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.