ZIP 97086 vs ZIP 97015

This side-by-side compares ZIP 97086 (Happy Valley, OR) and ZIP 97015 (Clackamas, OR) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 97086 has a population of 26,010 at 953 people per square mile, while ZIP 97015 has 19,521 at 856 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 97086 reports a median household income of $102,359 against $87,333 in ZIP 97015, with per-capita income of $51,898 vs $43,329. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 41.9% in 97086 and 32.5% in 97015. Poverty rate reads 9.5% vs 9.0%, and unemployment 5.6% vs 1.3% — 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 $697,400 in 97086 versus $527,800 in 97015, with median rent of $1,746 and $1,835 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 62.7% vs 64.0%. 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.