ZIP 81251 vs ZIP 80461

This side-by-side compares ZIP 81251 (Twin Lakes, CO) and ZIP 80461 (Leadville, CO) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 81251 has a population of 220 at 1 people per square mile, while ZIP 80461 has 7,090 at 10 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 81251 reports a median household income of $105,600 against $95,775 in ZIP 80461, with per-capita income of $54,835 vs $50,200. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 66.8% in 81251 and 48.1% in 80461. Poverty rate reads 0.7% vs 8.4%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 2.3% - 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 $672,600 in 81251 versus $458,400 in 80461, with median rent of - and $1,397 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 100.0% vs 73.8%. 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.