ZIP 80026 vs ZIP 80020

This side-by-side compares ZIP 80026 (Lafayette, CO) and ZIP 80020 (Broomfield, CO) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 80026 has a population of 26,378 at 458 people per square mile, while ZIP 80020 has 46,871 at 914 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 80026 reports a median household income of $120,187 against $117,243 in ZIP 80020, with per-capita income of $64,575 vs $56,336. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 64.0% in 80026 and 54.4% in 80020. Poverty rate reads 5.3% vs 6.2%, and unemployment 4.1% vs 3.5% — 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 $705,600 in 80026 versus $601,800 in 80020, with median rent of $2,104 and $2,052 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 65.9% vs 66.7%. 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.