ZIP 63088 vs ZIP 63021

This side-by-side compares ZIP 63088 (Valley Park, MO) and ZIP 63021 (Ballwin, MO) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 63088 has a population of 8,269 at 569 people per square mile, while ZIP 63021 has 56,261 at 986 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 63088 reports a median household income of $65,769 against $120,177 in ZIP 63021, with per-capita income of $45,544 vs $56,249. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 48.1% in 63088 and 63.0% in 63021. Poverty rate reads 9.1% vs 5.4%, and unemployment 4.2% vs 4.1% — 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 $247,100 in 63088 versus $349,500 in 63021, with median rent of $1,402 and $1,423 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 53.0% vs 80.7%. 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.