ZIP 62879 vs ZIP 62824

This side-by-side compares ZIP 62879 (Sailor Springs, IL) and ZIP 62824 (Clay City, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 62879 has a population of 85 at 160 people per square mile, while ZIP 62824 has 1,761 at 6 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 62879 reports a median household income of $26,964 against $61,591 in ZIP 62824, with per-capita income of $18,271 vs $27,811. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 5.0% in 62879 and 12.4% in 62824. Poverty rate reads 7.1% vs 24.8%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 7.4% — 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 $23,200 in 62879 versus $102,100 in 62824, with median rent of — and $607 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 100.0% vs 85.0%. 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.