ZIP 68971 vs ZIP 68960

This side-by-side compares ZIP 68971 (Republican City, NE) and ZIP 68960 (Naponee, NE) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 68971 has a population of 458 at 2 people per square mile, while ZIP 68960 has 183 at 1 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 68971 reports a median household income of $64,375 against $85,278 in ZIP 68960, with per-capita income of $57,346 vs $36,270. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.1% in 68971 and 15.9% in 68960. Poverty rate reads 5.9% vs 9.6%, and unemployment 0.0% 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 $177,100 in 68971 versus $55,700 in 68960, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 91.8% vs 92.1%. 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.