ZIP 62518 vs ZIP 62512

This side-by-side compares ZIP 62518 (Chestnut, IL) and ZIP 62512 (Beason, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 62518 has a population of 457 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 62512 has 500 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 62518 reports a median household income of — against $55,347 in ZIP 62512, with per-capita income of $29,717 vs $25,084. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.3% in 62518 and 16.0% in 62512. Poverty rate reads 11.8% vs 13.7%, and unemployment 0.0% 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 $140,300 in 62518 versus $131,000 in 62512, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 95.6% vs 82.9%. 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.