ZIP 65649 vs ZIP 65601

This side-by-side compares ZIP 65649 (Fair Play, MO) and ZIP 65601 (Aldrich, MO) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 65649 has a population of 1,593 at 10 people per square mile, while ZIP 65601 has 812 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 65649 reports a median household income of $46,516 against $46,875 in ZIP 65601, with per-capita income of $25,432 vs $31,097. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.1% in 65649 and 18.8% in 65601. Poverty rate reads 13.8% vs 12.8%, and unemployment 10.0% vs 0.4% — 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 $314,300 in 65649 versus $167,400 in 65601, with median rent of $941 and $770 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.4% vs 75.4%. 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.