ZIP 96140 vs ZIP 95604

This side-by-side compares ZIP 96140 (Carnelian Bay, CA) and ZIP 95604 (Auburn, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 96140 has a population of 1,170 at 96 people per square mile, while ZIP 95604 has 75 at 72 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 96140 reports a median household income of $181,875 against — in ZIP 95604, with per-capita income of $101,805 vs —. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 64.6% in 96140 and 100.0% in 95604. Poverty rate reads 3.9% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 4.8% vs 0.0% — 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 $932,200 in 96140 versus — in 95604, with median rent of $1,397 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 86.2% vs 0.0%. 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.