ZIP 80476 vs ZIP 80438

This side-by-side compares ZIP 80476 (Silver Plume, CO) and ZIP 80438 (Empire, CO) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 80476 has a population of 194 at 1 people per square mile, while ZIP 80438 has 486 at 3 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 80476 reports a median household income of $51,875 against $67,034 in ZIP 80438, with per-capita income of $59,964 vs $42,880. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 64.3% in 80476 and 33.8% in 80438. Poverty rate reads 13.8% vs 8.8%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 4.3% — 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 $556,400 in 80476 versus $355,600 in 80438, with median rent of $985 and $1,444 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 82.3% vs 48.7%. 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.