ZIP 61932 vs ZIP 61940

This side-by-side compares ZIP 61932 (Hume, IL) and ZIP 61940 (Metcalf, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 61932 has a population of 456 at 8 people per square mile, while ZIP 61940 has 258 at 4 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 61932 reports a median household income of $64,583 against $55,938 in ZIP 61940, with per-capita income of $37,584 vs $28,807. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.1% in 61932 and 11.4% in 61940. Poverty rate reads 16.2% vs 3.5%, and unemployment 1.3% vs 20.4% — 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 $89,400 in 61932 versus $51,300 in 61940, with median rent of $854 and $743 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 75.2% vs 59.0%. 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.