ZIP 80651 vs ZIP 80623

This side-by-side compares ZIP 80651 (Platteville, CO) and ZIP 80623 (Gilcrest, CO) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 80651 has a population of 4,176 at 17 people per square mile, while ZIP 80623 has 1,028 at 597 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 80651 reports a median household income of $81,586 against — in ZIP 80623, with per-capita income of $42,926 vs $24,049. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 23.4% in 80651 and 5.6% in 80623. Poverty rate reads 7.6% vs 18.4%, and unemployment 11.9% vs 4.0% — 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 $474,700 in 80651 versus $321,900 in 80623, with median rent of $1,655 and $1,682 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 85.9% vs 88.9%. 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.