ZIP 84121 vs ZIP 84109

This side-by-side compares ZIP 84121 (Salt Lake City, UT) and ZIP 84109 (Salt Lake City, UT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 84121 has a population of 41,702 at 250 people per square mile, while ZIP 84109 has 23,858 at 149 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 84121 reports a median household income of $115,515 against $145,034 in ZIP 84109, with per-capita income of $59,542 vs $66,037. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 53.2% in 84121 and 68.3% in 84109. Poverty rate reads 7.2% vs 4.0%, and unemployment 2.9% vs 3.5% — 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 $659,900 in 84121 versus $731,200 in 84109, with median rent of $1,774 and $1,639 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 74.9% vs 80.5%. 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.