ZIP 94598 vs ZIP 94596

This side-by-side compares ZIP 94598 (Walnut Creek, CA) and ZIP 94596 (Walnut Creek, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 94598 has a population of 25,818 at 655 people per square mile, while ZIP 94596 has 20,037 at 1,299 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 94598 reports a median household income of $186,225 against $135,635 in ZIP 94596, with per-capita income of $95,937 vs $88,540. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 73.7% in 94598 and 71.2% in 94596. Poverty rate reads 5.4% vs 6.5%, and unemployment 4.6% vs 6.3% — 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 $1,339,900 in 94598 versus $1,277,800 in 94596, with median rent of $2,940 and $2,574 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 76.3% vs 43.6%. 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.