ZIP 62046 vs ZIP 62097

This side-by-side compares ZIP 62046 (Hamel, IL) and ZIP 62097 (Worden, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 62046 has a population of 713 at 345 people per square mile, while ZIP 62097 has 2,828 at 28 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 62046 reports a median household income of $108,036 against $91,011 in ZIP 62097, with per-capita income of $41,708 vs $44,606. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 35.4% in 62046 and 24.4% in 62097. Poverty rate reads 2.9% vs 5.4%, and unemployment 0.7% vs 3.3% - 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 $250,000 in 62046 versus $217,900 in 62097, with median rent of $954 and $2,090 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 75.6% vs 87.7%. 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.