ZIP 83254 vs ZIP 83220

This side-by-side compares ZIP 83254 (Montpelier, ID) and ZIP 83220 (Bern, ID) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 83254 has a population of 3,617 at 3 people per square mile, while ZIP 83220 has 137 at 2 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 83254 reports a median household income of $64,839 against $78,021 in ZIP 83220, with per-capita income of $31,212 vs $42,435. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.8% in 83254 and 23.9% in 83220. Poverty rate reads 6.4% vs 21.0%, and unemployment 2.5% 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 $253,800 in 83254 versus - in 83220, with median rent of $543 and - per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 86.2% vs 100.0%. 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.