ZIP 95134 vs ZIP 95054

This side-by-side compares ZIP 95134 (San Jose, CA) and ZIP 95054 (Santa Clara, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 95134 has a population of 15,268 at 587 people per square mile, while ZIP 95054 has 23,364 at 1,440 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 95134 reports a median household income of $203,649 against $207,895 in ZIP 95054, with per-capita income of $104,937 vs $97,874. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 76.4% in 95134 and 68.6% in 95054. Poverty rate reads 5.6% vs 5.2%, and unemployment 3.0% vs 4.8% — 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 — in 95134 versus $1,493,100 in 95054, with median rent of $3,304 and $3,447 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 13.8% vs 32.6%. 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.