ZIP 62859 vs ZIP 62829

This side-by-side compares ZIP 62859 (Mc Leansboro, IL) and ZIP 62829 (Dale, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 62859 has a population of 5,748 at 11 people per square mile, while ZIP 62829 has 72 at 16 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 62859 reports a median household income of $54,011 against — in ZIP 62829, with per-capita income of $43,037 vs $65,618. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 25.4% in 62859 and 40.9% in 62829. Poverty rate reads 12.4% vs 9.1%, and unemployment 2.4% vs 9.1% — 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 $93,900 in 62859 versus — in 62829, with median rent of $572 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 72.5% vs 100.0%. 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.