ZIP 90623 vs ZIP 90620

This side-by-side compares ZIP 90623 (La Palma, CA) and ZIP 90620 (Buena Park, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 90623 has a population of 15,554 at 3,309 people per square mile, while ZIP 90620 has 45,113 at 2,724 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 90623 reports a median household income of $116,594 against $126,094 in ZIP 90620, with per-capita income of $53,816 vs $43,056. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 52.9% in 90623 and 33.3% in 90620. Poverty rate reads 4.9% vs 7.7%, and unemployment 4.0% vs 4.8% — 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 $979,600 in 90623 versus $840,300 in 90620, with median rent of $2,259 and $2,351 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 67.4% vs 72.3%. 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.