ZIP 87043 vs ZIP 87122

This side-by-side compares ZIP 87043 (Placitas, NM) and ZIP 87122 (Albuquerque, NM) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 87043 has a population of 5,052 at 23 people per square mile, while ZIP 87122 has 17,977 at 260 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 87043 reports a median household income of $109,750 against $169,041 in ZIP 87122, with per-capita income of $71,431 vs $80,877. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 65.5% in 87043 and 74.3% in 87122. Poverty rate reads 3.2% vs 2.6%, and unemployment 3.5% vs 5.6% — 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 $562,100 in 87043 versus $650,200 in 87122, with median rent of $2,717 and $2,534 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 93.9% vs 92.6%. 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.