ZIP 62414 vs ZIP 62422

This side-by-side compares ZIP 62414 (Beecher City, IL) and ZIP 62422 (Cowden, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 62414 has a population of 1,886 at 10 people per square mile, while ZIP 62422 has 1,156 at 11 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 62414 reports a median household income of $58,370 against $75,074 in ZIP 62422, with per-capita income of $31,200 vs $30,403. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.2% in 62414 and 13.0% in 62422. Poverty rate reads 10.4% vs 14.6%, and unemployment 6.6% vs 4.7% - 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 $157,800 in 62414 versus $105,900 in 62422, with median rent of $715 and $720 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 71.6% vs 78.7%. 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.