ZIP 94709 vs ZIP 94720

This side-by-side compares ZIP 94709 (Berkeley, CA) and ZIP 94720 (Berkeley, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 94709 has a population of 11,806 at 7,754 people per square mile, while ZIP 94720 has 2,964 at 1,840 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 94709 reports a median household income of $89,054 against — in ZIP 94720, with per-capita income of $63,212 vs $11,262. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 79.9% in 94709 and 82.3% in 94720. Poverty rate reads 17.1% vs 48.9%, and unemployment 4.5% vs 10.5% — 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 $1,375,000 in 94709 versus $507,800 in 94720, with median rent of $2,042 and $3,501 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 24.3% vs 24.8%. 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.