ZIP 80520 vs ZIP 80530

This side-by-side compares ZIP 80520 (Firestone, CO) and ZIP 80530 (Frederick, CO) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 80520 has a population of 1,498 at 1,435 people per square mile, while ZIP 80530 has 3,790 at 771 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 80520 reports a median household income of $63,529 against $124,000 in ZIP 80530, with per-capita income of $37,743 vs $49,532. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 29.7% in 80520 and 26.1% in 80530. Poverty rate reads 8.4% vs 6.5%, and unemployment 10.5% vs 2.5% — 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 $449,400 in 80520 versus $466,000 in 80530, with median rent of — and $2,311 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.5% vs 91.6%. 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.