ZIP 80602 vs ZIP 80241

This side-by-side compares ZIP 80602 (Brighton, CO) and ZIP 80241 (Thornton, CO) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 80602 has a population of 27,665 at 355 people per square mile, while ZIP 80241 has 31,746 at 1,856 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 80602 reports a median household income of $151,737 against $110,218 in ZIP 80241, with per-capita income of $57,195 vs $49,333. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 43.2% in 80602 and 40.5% in 80241. Poverty rate reads 3.6% vs 4.0%, and unemployment 4.5% vs 3.9% — 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 $667,000 in 80602 versus $542,100 in 80241, with median rent of $2,467 and $2,202 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 92.2% vs 74.6%. 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.