ZIP 85087 vs ZIP 85086

This side-by-side compares ZIP 85087 (New River, AZ) and ZIP 85086 (Phoenix, AZ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 85087 has a population of 7,708 at 40 people per square mile, while ZIP 85086 has 40,495 at 268 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 85087 reports a median household income of $138,566 against $121,676 in ZIP 85086, with per-capita income of $54,895 vs $58,044. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 31.0% in 85087 and 43.7% in 85086. Poverty rate reads 3.4% vs 5.8%, and unemployment 2.4% vs 4.0% — 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 $552,300 in 85087 versus $598,900 in 85086, with median rent of $2,280 and $2,330 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 95.7% vs 85.2%. 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.