ZIP 61801 vs ZIP 61820

This side-by-side compares ZIP 61801 (Urbana, IL) and ZIP 61820 (Champaign, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 61801 has a population of 30,937 at 2,234 people per square mile, while ZIP 61820 has 36,964 at 2,186 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 61801 reports a median household income of $36,180 against $27,539 in ZIP 61820, with per-capita income of $28,276 vs $21,634. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 62.7% in 61801 and 53.3% in 61820. Poverty rate reads 34.2% vs 47.8%, and unemployment 5.4% vs 5.1% — 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 $177,100 in 61801 versus $184,500 in 61820, with median rent of $972 and $1,108 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 33.3% vs 19.6%. 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.