ZIP 94601 vs ZIP 94602

This side-by-side compares ZIP 94601 (Oakland, CA) and ZIP 94602 (Oakland, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 94601 has a population of 50,294 at 5,980 people per square mile, while ZIP 94602 has 28,329 at 3,309 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 94601 reports a median household income of $72,359 against $122,263 in ZIP 94602, with per-capita income of $33,168 vs $72,943. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 26.1% in 94601 and 59.1% in 94602. Poverty rate reads 16.7% vs 8.4%, and unemployment 6.8% vs 8.1% — 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 $710,000 in 94601 versus $1,129,500 in 94602, with median rent of $1,721 and $1,996 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 36.4% vs 60.2%. 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.