ZIP 88415 vs ZIP 88418

This side-by-side compares ZIP 88415 (Clayton, NM) and ZIP 88418 (Des Moines, NM) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 88415 has a population of 3,569 at 1 people per square mile, while ZIP 88418 has 294 at 0 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 88415 reports a median household income of $44,952 against $77,813 in ZIP 88418, with per-capita income of $41,617 vs $21,877. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.3% in 88415 and 19.3% in 88418. Poverty rate reads 17.7% vs 18.1%, and unemployment 7.4% vs 2.4% - 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 $120,800 in 88415 versus $165,400 in 88418, with median rent of $673 and - per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 71.7% vs 74.8%. 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.