ZIP 62864 vs ZIP 62846

This side-by-side compares ZIP 62864 (Mount Vernon, IL) and ZIP 62846 (Ina, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 62864 has a population of 24,108 at 64 people per square mile, while ZIP 62846 has 2,631 at 48 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 62864 reports a median household income of $60,451 against $65,500 in ZIP 62846, with per-capita income of $34,622 vs $13,316. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.1% in 62864 and 4.4% in 62846. Poverty rate reads 13.9% vs 19.3%, and unemployment 6.0% vs 10.1% — 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 $124,800 in 62864 versus $103,300 in 62846, with median rent of $901 and $536 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 66.2% 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.