ZIP 88002 vs ZIP 88052

This side-by-side compares ZIP 88002 (White Sands Missile Range, NM) and ZIP 88052 (Organ, NM) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 88002 has a population of 1,656 at 4 people per square mile, while ZIP 88052 has 270 at 102 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 88002 reports a median household income of $89,565 against — in ZIP 88052, with per-capita income of $33,378 vs $115,215. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 45.3% in 88002 and 23.0% in 88052. Poverty rate reads 1.9% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 0.0% — 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 — in 88002 versus $122,100 in 88052, with median rent of $1,385 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 0.0% vs 67.4%. 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.