ZIP 81212 vs ZIP 81226

This side-by-side compares ZIP 81212 (Canon City, CO) and ZIP 81226 (Florence, CO) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 81212 has a population of 29,742 at 19 people per square mile, while ZIP 81226 has 9,066 at 43 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 81212 reports a median household income of $64,235 against $53,969 in ZIP 81226, with per-capita income of $29,097 vs $22,944. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.1% in 81212 and 13.4% in 81226. Poverty rate reads 13.4% vs 12.6%, and unemployment 4.6% vs 2.8% — 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 $329,000 in 81212 versus $258,800 in 81226, with median rent of $1,097 and $812 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 73.0% vs 74.3%. 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.