ZIP 87508 vs ZIP 87540

This side-by-side compares ZIP 87508 (Santa Fe, NM) and ZIP 87540 (Lamy, NM) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 87508 has a population of 18,183 at 48 people per square mile, while ZIP 87540 has 923 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 87508 reports a median household income of $101,565 against $52,500 in ZIP 87540, with per-capita income of $59,189 vs $47,767. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 53.3% in 87508 and 44.9% in 87540. Poverty rate reads 9.4% vs 6.7%, and unemployment 3.8% 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 $561,200 in 87508 versus $729,700 in 87540, with median rent of $1,623 and $1,039 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 92.6% vs 59.8%. 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.