ZIP 86043 vs ZIP 86042

This side-by-side compares ZIP 86043 (Second Mesa, AZ) and ZIP 86042 (Polacca, AZ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 86043 has a population of 1,798 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 86042 has 1,778 at 10 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 86043 reports a median household income of — against $69,940 in ZIP 86042, with per-capita income of $8,321 vs $22,902. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 2.9% in 86043 and 12.5% in 86042. Poverty rate reads 49.2% vs 15.2%, and unemployment 29.8% vs 5.7% — 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 $77,000 in 86043 versus $49,000 in 86042, with median rent of — and $1,079 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.2% vs 54.8%. 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.