ZIP 92154 vs ZIP 92173

This side-by-side compares ZIP 92154 (San Diego, CA) and ZIP 92173 (San Ysidro, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 92154 has a population of 79,708 at 830 people per square mile, while ZIP 92173 has 29,429 at 2,243 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 92154 reports a median household income of $94,901 against $69,792 in ZIP 92173, with per-capita income of $33,152 vs $25,887. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.0% in 92154 and 9.9% in 92173. Poverty rate reads 10.3% vs 13.4%, and unemployment 7.4% vs 12.8% — 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 $639,200 in 92154 versus $535,000 in 92173, with median rent of $2,195 and $1,707 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 61.1% vs 34.9%. 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.