ZIP 94549 vs ZIP 94556

This side-by-side compares ZIP 94549 (Lafayette, CA) and ZIP 94556 (Moraga, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 94549 has a population of 26,864 at 540 people per square mile, while ZIP 94556 has 15,229 at 481 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 94549 reports a median household income of $234,516 against $215,720 in ZIP 94556, with per-capita income of $122,213 vs $99,286. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 79.2% in 94549 and 81.9% in 94556. Poverty rate reads 3.0% vs 7.5%, and unemployment 4.6% vs 6.6% — 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 $2,000,001 in 94549 versus $1,659,600 in 94556, with median rent of $2,968 and $2,906 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 78.9% vs 82.9%. 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.