ZIP 83204 vs ZIP 83209

This side-by-side compares ZIP 83204 (Pocatello, ID) and ZIP 83209 (Pocatello, ID) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 83204 has a population of 18,026 at 30 people per square mile, while ZIP 83209 has 1,175 at 684 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 83204 reports a median household income of $57,146 against $19,336 in ZIP 83209, with per-capita income of $32,681 vs $11,907. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 30.6% in 83204 and 81.3% in 83209. Poverty rate reads 15.7% vs 31.7%, and unemployment 5.7% vs 5.2% — 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 $263,500 in 83204 versus — in 83209, with median rent of $814 and $673 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 66.7% vs 0.0%. 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.