ZIP 86515 vs ZIP 87320

This side-by-side compares ZIP 86515 (Window Rock, AZ) and ZIP 87320 (Mexican Springs, NM) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 86515 has a population of 4,479 at 16 people per square mile, while ZIP 87320 has 765 at 4 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 86515 reports a median household income of $47,336 against $43,125 in ZIP 87320, with per-capita income of $25,992 vs $19,732. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 18.7% in 86515 and 9.9% in 87320. Poverty rate reads 26.8% vs 36.2%, and unemployment 9.2% vs 9.3% — 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 $57,100 in 86515 versus $61,100 in 87320, with median rent of $732 and $800 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 51.1% vs 88.9%. 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.