ZIP 61864 vs ZIP 61877

This side-by-side compares ZIP 61864 (Philo, IL) and ZIP 61877 (Sidney, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 61864 has a population of 1,715 at 29 people per square mile, while ZIP 61877 has 1,627 at 22 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 61864 reports a median household income of $110,139 against $96,750 in ZIP 61877, with per-capita income of $36,295 vs $49,961. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 25.8% in 61864 and 24.5% in 61877. Poverty rate reads 7.6% vs 3.7%, and unemployment 0.7% vs 6.0% — 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 $230,000 in 61864 versus $209,700 in 61877, with median rent of $1,222 and $1,094 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 90.8% vs 85.6%. 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.