ZIP 68840 vs ZIP 68847

This side-by-side compares ZIP 68840 (Gibbon, NE) and ZIP 68847 (Kearney, NE) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 68840 has a population of 2,945 at 8 people per square mile, while ZIP 68847 has 16,504 at 68 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 68840 reports a median household income of $76,394 against $73,818 in ZIP 68847, with per-capita income of $36,040 vs $40,176. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 26.8% in 68840 and 33.1% in 68847. Poverty rate reads 5.2% vs 12.8%, and unemployment 4.1% vs 2.2% — 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 $208,100 in 68840 versus $238,400 in 68847, with median rent of $848 and $976 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 73.7% vs 69.6%. 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.