ZIP 66106 vs ZIP 66203

This side-by-side compares ZIP 66106 (Kansas City, KS) and ZIP 66203 (Shawnee, KS) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 66106 has a population of 23,367 at 485 people per square mile, while ZIP 66203 has 19,156 at 1,178 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 66106 reports a median household income of $61,331 against $75,869 in ZIP 66203, with per-capita income of $28,157 vs $40,850. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.4% in 66106 and 37.7% in 66203. Poverty rate reads 13.1% vs 8.9%, and unemployment 6.3% vs 4.3% — 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 $168,800 in 66106 versus $254,900 in 66203, with median rent of $1,013 and $1,244 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 68.3% vs 63.8%. 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.