ZIP 81401 vs ZIP 81403

This side-by-side compares ZIP 81401 (Montrose, CO) and ZIP 81403 (Montrose, CO) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 81401 has a population of 22,437 at 37 people per square mile, while ZIP 81403 has 10,534 at 7 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 81401 reports a median household income of $71,286 against $80,893 in ZIP 81403, with per-capita income of $38,661 vs $41,675. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 29.5% in 81401 and 35.0% in 81403. Poverty rate reads 11.5% vs 10.5%, and unemployment 4.4% vs 4.3% - 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 $374,300 in 81401 versus $515,300 in 81403, with median rent of $1,174 and $1,369 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 71.5% vs 82.8%. 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.