ZIP 83869 vs ZIP 83804

This side-by-side compares ZIP 83869 (Spirit Lake, ID) and ZIP 83804 (Blanchard, ID) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 83869 has a population of 4,161 at 27 people per square mile, while ZIP 83804 has 1,254 at 9 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 83869 reports a median household income of $67,099 against $59,302 in ZIP 83804, with per-capita income of $37,380 vs $42,211. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.1% in 83869 and 30.4% in 83804. Poverty rate reads 9.2% vs 5.4%, and unemployment 2.9% vs 6.7% — 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 $466,000 in 83869 versus $414,300 in 83804, with median rent of $1,233 and $952 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 92.7% vs 88.0%. 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.