ZIP 94541 vs ZIP 94546

This side-by-side compares ZIP 94541 (Hayward, CA) and ZIP 94546 (Castro Valley, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 94541 has a population of 61,635 at 3,205 people per square mile, while ZIP 94546 has 42,209 at 1,708 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 94541 reports a median household income of $105,729 against $128,385 in ZIP 94546, with per-capita income of $43,610 vs $57,324. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 30.6% in 94541 and 41.7% in 94546. Poverty rate reads 9.5% vs 6.6%, and unemployment 5.7% vs 3.7% — 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 $812,000 in 94541 versus $1,043,500 in 94546, with median rent of $2,239 and $2,539 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 46.7% vs 66.3%. 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.