ZIP 95564 vs ZIP 95501

This side-by-side compares ZIP 95564 (Samoa, CA) and ZIP 95501 (Eureka, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 95564 has a population of 462 at 54 people per square mile, while ZIP 95501 has 23,976 at 1,315 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 95564 reports a median household income of $78,750 against $54,137 in ZIP 95501, with per-capita income of $31,897 vs $32,302. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.7% in 95564 and 32.0% in 95501. Poverty rate reads 7.2% vs 20.7%, and unemployment 8.4% vs 10.7% — 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 $480,800 in 95564 versus $412,300 in 95501, with median rent of $1,523 and $1,198 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 49.7% vs 41.0%. 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.