ZIP 61937 vs ZIP 61929

This side-by-side compares ZIP 61937 (Lovington, IL) and ZIP 61929 (Hammond, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 61937 has a population of 2,022 at 8 people per square mile, while ZIP 61929 has 769 at 7 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 61937 reports a median household income of $61,295 against $79,167 in ZIP 61929, with per-capita income of $33,068 vs $33,416. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 9.9% in 61937 and 23.0% in 61929. Poverty rate reads 8.5% vs 4.6%, and unemployment 1.4% vs 16.3% — 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 $99,700 in 61937 versus $106,800 in 61929, with median rent of $806 and $817 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.9% vs 83.3%. 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.