ZIP 66518 vs ZIP 68309

This side-by-side compares ZIP 66518 (Oketo, KS) and ZIP 68309 (Barneston, NE) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 66518 has a population of 189 at 2 people per square mile, while ZIP 68309 has 121 at 26 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 66518 reports a median household income of — against $49,583 in ZIP 68309, with per-capita income of $38,327 vs $24,417. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 7.2% in 66518 and 1.0% in 68309. Poverty rate reads 39.3% vs 11.1%, and unemployment 11.3% vs 0.0% — 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 $153,000 in 66518 versus — in 68309, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.9% vs 91.5%. 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.