ZIP 62953 vs ZIP 62908

This side-by-side compares ZIP 62953 (Joppa, IL) and ZIP 62908 (Belknap, IL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 62953 has a population of 360 at 161 people per square mile, while ZIP 62908 has 467 at 4 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 62953 reports a median household income of $41,563 against $90,083 in ZIP 62908, with per-capita income of $22,228 vs $40,093. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 8.8% in 62953 and 14.4% in 62908. Poverty rate reads 22.4% vs 3.0%, and unemployment 49.0% vs 9.7% — 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 $45,000 in 62953 versus $161,100 in 62908, with median rent of $754 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 62.1% vs 92.6%. 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.