ZIP 95953 vs ZIP 95982

This side-by-side compares ZIP 95953 (Live Oak, CA) and ZIP 95982 (Sutter, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 95953 has a population of 10,718 at 36 people per square mile, while ZIP 95982 has 3,221 at 28 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 95953 reports a median household income of $74,786 against $96,224 in ZIP 95982, with per-capita income of $29,159 vs $45,521. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.5% in 95953 and 23.6% in 95982. Poverty rate reads 15.4% vs 6.2%, and unemployment 6.7% vs 8.8% — 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 $376,900 in 95953 versus $417,000 in 95982, with median rent of $868 and $1,750 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.1% vs 79.1%. 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.