ZIP 62523 vs ZIP 62521

This side-by-side compares ZIP 62523 (Decatur, IL) and ZIP 62521 (Decatur, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 62523 has a population of 1,237 at 996 people per square mile, while ZIP 62521 has 35,851 at 207 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 62523 reports a median household income of $13,393 against $66,337 in ZIP 62521, with per-capita income of $14,585 vs $38,059. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 3.0% in 62523 and 23.2% in 62521. Poverty rate reads 69.3% vs 13.7%, and unemployment 28.1% vs 5.2% — 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 — in 62523 versus $125,100 in 62521, with median rent of $301 and $926 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 9.3% vs 74.5%. 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.