ZIP 90004 vs ZIP 90020

This side-by-side compares ZIP 90004 (Los Angeles, CA) and ZIP 90020 (Los Angeles, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 90004 has a population of 62,180 at 7,876 people per square mile, while ZIP 90020 has 38,967 at 13,311 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 90004 reports a median household income of $64,826 against $61,184 in ZIP 90020, with per-capita income of $46,078 vs $41,989. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 40.9% in 90004 and 46.9% in 90020. Poverty rate reads 18.9% vs 18.2%, and unemployment 8.5% vs 7.7% — 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 $1,552,100 in 90004 versus $847,700 in 90020, with median rent of $1,831 and $1,773 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 16.2% vs 9.0%. 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.