ZIP 94530 vs ZIP 94706

This side-by-side compares ZIP 94530 (El Cerrito, CA) and ZIP 94706 (Albany, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 94530 has a population of 23,877 at 1,911 people per square mile, while ZIP 94706 has 19,615 at 5,128 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 94530 reports a median household income of $128,529 against $143,398 in ZIP 94706, with per-capita income of $73,169 vs $76,222. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 67.6% in 94530 and 78.1% in 94706. Poverty rate reads 6.8% vs 6.7%, and unemployment 6.2% vs 3.0% — 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 $1,114,100 in 94530 versus $1,203,500 in 94706, with median rent of $2,545 and $2,451 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 59.2% vs 53.3%. 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.