ZIP 81601 vs ZIP 81623

This side-by-side compares ZIP 81601 (Glenwood Springs, CO) and ZIP 81623 (Carbondale, CO) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 81601 has a population of 15,442 at 17 people per square mile, while ZIP 81623 has 15,235 at 13 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 81601 reports a median household income of $109,129 against $109,661 in ZIP 81623, with per-capita income of $50,352 vs $66,989. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 40.2% in 81601 and 52.6% in 81623. Poverty rate reads 5.9% vs 7.5%, and unemployment 4.2% vs 1.2% — 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 $798,900 in 81601 versus $913,300 in 81623, with median rent of $1,877 and $2,119 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 64.4% vs 69.4%. 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.