ZIP 92679 vs ZIP 92688

This side-by-side compares ZIP 92679 (Trabuco Canyon, CA) and ZIP 92688 (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 92679 has a population of 32,611 at 557 people per square mile, while ZIP 92688 has 43,792 at 1,551 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 92679 reports a median household income of $211,250 against $152,528 in ZIP 92688, with per-capita income of $89,972 vs $65,019. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 61.4% in 92679 and 49.4% in 92688. Poverty rate reads 3.1% vs 6.2%, and unemployment 4.0% vs 3.7% — 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 $1,323,600 in 92679 versus $906,100 in 92688, with median rent of $3,501 and $2,651 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 89.7% vs 68.9%. 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.