ZIP 95066 vs ZIP 95018

This side-by-side compares ZIP 95066 (Scotts Valley, CA) and ZIP 95018 (Felton, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 95066 has a population of 14,749 at 301 people per square mile, while ZIP 95018 has 7,778 at 160 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 95066 reports a median household income of $151,250 against $129,464 in ZIP 95018, with per-capita income of $84,587 vs $73,752. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 56.7% in 95066 and 58.4% in 95018. Poverty rate reads 5.7% vs 4.3%, and unemployment 2.7% vs 4.9% — 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 $1,136,400 in 95066 versus $838,600 in 95018, with median rent of $2,494 and $2,165 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 76.5% vs 81.3%. 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.