ZIP 92314 vs ZIP 92386

This side-by-side compares ZIP 92314 (Big Bear City, CA) and ZIP 92386 (Sugarloaf, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 92314 has a population of 10,162 at 127 people per square mile, while ZIP 92386 has 2,270 at 457 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 92314 reports a median household income of $74,910 against $50,694 in ZIP 92386, with per-capita income of $42,405 vs $32,752. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 29.6% in 92314 and 37.5% in 92386. Poverty rate reads 14.4% vs 24.6%, and unemployment 9.7% vs 9.5% — 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 $457,200 in 92314 versus $458,600 in 92386, with median rent of $1,849 and $1,917 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 71.9% vs 63.3%. 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.