ZIP 66523 vs ZIP 66414

This side-by-side compares ZIP 66523 (Osage City, KS) and ZIP 66414 (Carbondale, KS) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 66523 has a population of 3,833 at 10 people per square mile, while ZIP 66414 has 2,914 at 19 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 66523 reports a median household income of $74,716 against $74,063 in ZIP 66414, with per-capita income of $33,750 vs $38,081. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.9% in 66523 and 17.6% in 66414. Poverty rate reads 6.6% vs 15.6%, and unemployment 1.0% 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 $167,200 in 66523 versus $162,300 in 66414, with median rent of $798 and $617 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 78.5% vs 83.4%. 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.