ZIP 93239 vs ZIP 93204

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