ZIP 88003 vs ZIP 88001

This side-by-side compares ZIP 88003 (Las Cruces, NM) and ZIP 88001 (Las Cruces, NM) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 88003 has a population of 894 at 1,043 people per square mile, while ZIP 88001 has 37,484 at 1,274 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 88003 reports a median household income of — against $33,087 in ZIP 88001, with per-capita income of $5,168 vs $20,163. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 100.0% in 88003 and 28.6% in 88001. Poverty rate reads — vs 34.4%, and unemployment 19.1% vs 8.0% — 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 88003 versus $163,800 in 88001, with median rent of — and $806 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is — vs 41.7%. 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.