ZIP 62886 vs ZIP 62895

This side-by-side compares ZIP 62886 (Sims, IL) and ZIP 62895 (Wayne City, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 62886 has a population of 440 at 6 people per square mile, while ZIP 62895 has 2,022 at 8 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 62886 reports a median household income of $61,250 against $51,131 in ZIP 62895, with per-capita income of $33,412 vs $30,589. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 11.3% in 62886 and 18.4% in 62895. Poverty rate reads 4.2% vs 11.8%, and unemployment 3.3% vs 1.9% — 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 $127,100 in 62886 versus $117,800 in 62895, with median rent of $691 and $688 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 85.9% vs 79.3%. 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.