ZIP 62547 vs ZIP 62539

This side-by-side compares ZIP 62547 (Mount Auburn, IL) and ZIP 62539 (Illiopolis, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 62547 has a population of 804 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 62539 has 1,358 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 62547 reports a median household income of $59,750 against $82,750 in ZIP 62539, with per-capita income of $33,832 vs $38,220. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 12.8% in 62547 and 31.6% in 62539. Poverty rate reads 20.6% vs 7.2%, and unemployment 2.0% vs 4.1% — 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 $94,600 in 62547 versus $123,400 in 62539, with median rent of $1,154 and $663 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 91.6% vs 87.6%. 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.