ZIP 83218 vs ZIP 83274

This side-by-side compares ZIP 83218 (Basalt, ID) and ZIP 83274 (Shelley, ID) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 83218 has a population of 338 at 323 people per square mile, while ZIP 83274 has 9,246 at 39 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 83218 reports a median household income of $78,472 against $92,669 in ZIP 83274, with per-capita income of $30,474 vs $37,060. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 12.2% in 83218 and 23.2% in 83274. Poverty rate reads 1.4% vs 9.5%, and unemployment 0.7% vs 4.2% — 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 $306,600 in 83218 versus $379,300 in 83274, with median rent of $775 and $1,232 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 80.7% vs 82.2%. 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.