ZIP 90404 vs ZIP 90405

This side-by-side compares ZIP 90404 (Santa Monica, CA) and ZIP 90405 (Santa Monica, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 90404 has a population of 21,360 at 4,139 people per square mile, while ZIP 90405 has 27,186 at 3,967 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 90404 reports a median household income of $95,139 against $121,241 in ZIP 90405, with per-capita income of $64,223 vs $100,986. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 61.1% in 90404 and 70.0% in 90405. Poverty rate reads 14.9% vs 7.8%, and unemployment 6.5% vs 7.1% — 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 $1,244,400 in 90404 versus $1,929,900 in 90405, with median rent of $2,239 and $2,417 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 21.4% vs 31.4%. 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.