ZIP 90742 vs ZIP 90743

This side-by-side compares ZIP 90742 (Sunset Beach, CA) and ZIP 90743 (Surfside, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 90742 has a population of 831 at 1,741 people per square mile, while ZIP 90743 has 456 at 2,125 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 90742 reports a median household income of $122,250 against $170,966 in ZIP 90743, with per-capita income of $97,334 vs $71,888. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 72.3% in 90742 and 50.4% in 90743. Poverty rate reads 0.0% vs 5.3%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 0.0% — 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 90742 versus $1,662,500 in 90743, with median rent of $2,410 and $2,521 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 37.5% vs 54.9%. 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.