ZIP 95135 vs ZIP 95138

This side-by-side compares ZIP 95135 (San Jose, CA) and ZIP 95138 (San Jose, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 95135 has a population of 20,120 at 254 people per square mile, while ZIP 95138 has 18,889 at 280 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 95135 reports a median household income of $190,750 against $204,476 in ZIP 95138, with per-capita income of $87,765 vs $85,919. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 64.3% in 95135 and 55.2% in 95138. Poverty rate reads 4.5% vs 5.8%, and unemployment 4.0% vs 4.6% — 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 $1,547,400 in 95135 versus $1,497,200 in 95138, with median rent of $3,501 and $2,780 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 85.9% vs 80.9%. 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.