ZIP 87031 vs ZIP 87002

This side-by-side compares ZIP 87031 (Los Lunas, NM) and ZIP 87002 (Belen, NM) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 87031 has a population of 44,075 at 34 people per square mile, while ZIP 87002 has 22,517 at 25 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 87031 reports a median household income of $60,902 against $51,961 in ZIP 87002, with per-capita income of $29,147 vs $28,303. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.3% in 87031 and 19.3% in 87002. Poverty rate reads 17.4% vs 22.2%, and unemployment 7.0% vs 7.9% — 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 $229,500 in 87031 versus $185,100 in 87002, with median rent of $1,062 and $959 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 83.2% vs 82.3%. 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.