ZIP 93635 vs ZIP 95301

This side-by-side compares ZIP 93635 (Los Banos, CA) and ZIP 95301 (Atwater, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 93635 has a population of 38,776 at 58 people per square mile, while ZIP 95301 has 37,073 at 230 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 93635 reports a median household income of $67,129 against $68,349 in ZIP 95301, with per-capita income of $26,279 vs $32,303. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 12.5% in 93635 and 14.7% in 95301. Poverty rate reads 17.5% vs 19.1%, and unemployment 9.1% vs 11.2% — 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 $444,900 in 93635 versus $390,900 in 95301, with median rent of $1,524 and $1,285 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 58.7% vs 56.6%. 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.