ZIP 93204 vs ZIP 93239

This side-by-side compares ZIP 93204 (Avenal, CA) and ZIP 93239 (Kettleman City, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 93204 has a population of 15,529 at 101 people per square mile, while ZIP 93239 has 1,688 at 10 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 93204 reports a median household income of $55,079 against $48,231 in ZIP 93239, with per-capita income of $13,035 vs $18,785. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 2.8% in 93204 and 0.0% in 93239. Poverty rate reads 19.1% vs 23.8%, and unemployment 12.6% vs 8.6% — 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 $228,900 in 93204 versus $138,300 in 93239, with median rent of $1,015 and $1,082 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 45.3% vs 13.3%. 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.