ZIP 95978 vs ZIP 95954

This side-by-side compares ZIP 95978 (Stirling City, CA) and ZIP 95954 (Magalia, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 95978 has a population of 143 at 9 people per square mile, while ZIP 95954 has 12,251 at 67 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 95978 reports a median household income of — against $61,280 in ZIP 95954, with per-capita income of — vs $34,618. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 0.0% in 95978 and 17.8% in 95954. Poverty rate reads 0.0% vs 11.7%, and unemployment 100.0% vs 9.9% — 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 — in 95978 versus $292,400 in 95954, with median rent of — and $1,441 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 100.0% vs 84.1%. 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.