ZIP 95975 vs ZIP 95946

This side-by-side compares ZIP 95975 (Rough And Ready, CA) and ZIP 95946 (Penn Valley, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 95975 has a population of 1,769 at 73 people per square mile, while ZIP 95946 has 9,790 at 90 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 95975 reports a median household income of $103,216 against $84,795 in ZIP 95946, with per-capita income of $47,472 vs $47,168. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 34.2% in 95975 and 39.1% in 95946. Poverty rate reads 6.8% vs 9.1%, and unemployment 5.8% vs 2.0% — 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 $652,600 in 95975 versus $565,700 in 95946, with median rent of — and $2,221 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 90.9% vs 84.7%. 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.