ZIP 94523 vs ZIP 94597

This side-by-side compares ZIP 94523 (Pleasant Hill, CA) and ZIP 94597 (Walnut Creek, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 94523 has a population of 33,569 at 1,791 people per square mile, while ZIP 94597 has 20,277 at 2,002 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 94523 reports a median household income of $142,586 against $132,063 in ZIP 94597, with per-capita income of $65,935 vs $72,923. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 55.1% in 94523 and 65.1% in 94597. Poverty rate reads 7.4% vs 8.1%, and unemployment 4.8% vs 7.3% — 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 $1,076,600 in 94523 versus $1,026,800 in 94597, with median rent of $2,501 and $2,661 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 62.3% vs 46.4%. 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.