ZIP 61865 vs ZIP 61831

This side-by-side compares ZIP 61865 (Potomac, IL) and ZIP 61831 (Collison, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 61865 has a population of 1,391 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 61831 has 157 at 5 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 61865 reports a median household income of $66,786 against $103,750 in ZIP 61831, with per-capita income of $40,056 vs $54,856. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.4% in 61865 and 12.9% in 61831. Poverty rate reads 6.9% vs 3.1%, and unemployment 4.1% 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 $118,500 in 61865 versus $180,000 in 61831, with median rent of $773 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.0% 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.