ZIP 62921 vs ZIP 62918

This side-by-side compares ZIP 62921 (Colp, IL) and ZIP 62918 (Carterville, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 62921 has a population of 375 at 190 people per square mile, while ZIP 62918 has 9,793 at 105 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 62921 reports a median household income of — against $70,920 in ZIP 62918, with per-capita income of $24,685 vs $40,698. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.2% in 62921 and 40.2% in 62918. Poverty rate reads 49.8% vs 10.8%, and unemployment 10.1% vs 3.8% — 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 $75,000 in 62921 versus $200,200 in 62918, with median rent of $99 and $963 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.4% vs 64.0%. 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.