ZIP 80482 vs ZIP 80438

This side-by-side compares ZIP 80482 (Winter Park, 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 80482 has a population of 1,630 at 5 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 80482 reports a median household income of $65,137 against $67,034 in ZIP 80438, with per-capita income of $45,749 vs $42,880. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 56.9% in 80482 and 33.8% in 80438. Poverty rate reads 3.9% 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 $775,300 in 80482 versus $355,600 in 80438, with median rent of $1,648 and $1,444 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 69.4% 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.