ZIP 66401 vs ZIP 66501

This side-by-side compares ZIP 66401 (Alma, KS) and ZIP 66501 (Mc Farland, KS) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 66401 has a population of 1,721 at 3 people per square mile, while ZIP 66501 has 260 at 437 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 66401 reports a median household income of $73,516 against $59,500 in ZIP 66501, with per-capita income of $44,475 vs $28,205. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 26.8% in 66401 and 13.6% in 66501. Poverty rate reads 5.5% vs 9.4%, and unemployment 1.7% vs 2.4% — 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 $220,900 in 66401 versus $93,800 in 66501, with median rent of — and $1,614 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 72.8% vs 82.4%. 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.