ZIP 91942 vs ZIP 92119

This side-by-side compares ZIP 91942 (La Mesa, CA) and ZIP 92119 (San Diego, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 91942 has a population of 38,069 at 2,506 people per square mile, while ZIP 92119 has 23,057 at 1,301 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 91942 reports a median household income of $92,896 against $113,435 in ZIP 92119, with per-capita income of $49,775 vs $55,325. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 40.9% in 91942 and 56.2% in 92119. Poverty rate reads 12.3% vs 6.1%, and unemployment 5.9% vs 5.5% — 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 $775,700 in 91942 versus $879,200 in 92119, with median rent of $2,032 and $2,379 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 45.5% vs 68.8%. 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.