ZIP 95341 vs ZIP 95317

This side-by-side compares ZIP 95341 (Merced, CA) and ZIP 95317 (El Nido, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 95341 has a population of 32,967 at 85 people per square mile, while ZIP 95317 has 817 at 6 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 95341 reports a median household income of $57,342 against $57,153 in ZIP 95317, with per-capita income of $19,180 vs $31,832. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 9.3% in 95341 and 7.6% in 95317. Poverty rate reads 27.9% vs 19.8%, and unemployment 12.7% vs 2.2% — 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 $334,400 in 95341 versus $366,700 in 95317, with median rent of $1,242 and $1,016 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 38.5% vs 24.9%. 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.