ZIP 95301 vs ZIP 95312

This side-by-side compares ZIP 95301 (Atwater, CA) and ZIP 95312 (Cressey, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 95301 has a population of 37,073 at 230 people per square mile, while ZIP 95312 has 268 at 106 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 95301 reports a median household income of $68,349 against $80,625 in ZIP 95312, with per-capita income of $32,303 vs $35,210. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.7% in 95301 and 6.6% in 95312. Poverty rate reads 19.1% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 11.2% vs 0.0% — 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 $390,900 in 95301 versus — in 95312, with median rent of $1,285 and $670 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 56.6% vs 64.4%. 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.