ZIP 85388 vs ZIP 85355

This side-by-side compares ZIP 85388 (Surprise, AZ) and ZIP 85355 (Waddell, AZ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 85388 has a population of 23,490 at 691 people per square mile, while ZIP 85355 has 8,745 at 96 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 85388 reports a median household income of $112,164 against $123,055 in ZIP 85355, with per-capita income of $43,790 vs $45,833. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 31.9% in 85388 and 24.7% in 85355. Poverty rate reads 4.4% vs 7.2%, and unemployment 4.6% vs 2.5% — 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 $459,900 in 85388 versus $494,000 in 85355, with median rent of $2,155 and $2,477 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.9% vs 91.6%. 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.