ZIP 81657 vs ZIP 81649

This side-by-side compares ZIP 81657 (Vail, CO) and ZIP 81649 (Red Cliff, CO) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 81657 has a population of 5,581 at 19 people per square mile, while ZIP 81649 has 277 at 1 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 81657 reports a median household income of $100,573 against — in ZIP 81649, with per-capita income of $105,358 vs $54,687. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 69.4% in 81657 and 61.5% in 81649. Poverty rate reads 6.3% vs 5.8%, and unemployment 7.0% vs 0.0% — 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 $1,501,800 in 81657 versus $852,000 in 81649, with median rent of $1,644 and $1,239 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 61.4% vs 85.6%. 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.