ZIP 80621 vs ZIP 80520

This side-by-side compares ZIP 80621 (Fort Lupton, CO) and ZIP 80520 (Firestone, CO) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 80621 has a population of 12,079 at 37 people per square mile, while ZIP 80520 has 1,498 at 1,435 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 80621 reports a median household income of $90,055 against $63,529 in ZIP 80520, with per-capita income of $35,811 vs $37,743. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 18.3% in 80621 and 29.7% in 80520. Poverty rate reads 14.4% vs 8.4%, and unemployment 7.4% vs 10.5% — 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 $463,200 in 80621 versus $449,400 in 80520, with median rent of $1,316 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 74.1% vs 88.5%. 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.