ZIP 98024 vs ZIP 98050

This side-by-side compares ZIP 98024 (Fall City, WA) and ZIP 98050 (Preston, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 98024 has a population of 5,650 at 91 people per square mile, while ZIP 98050 has 322 at 38 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 98024 reports a median household income of $160,641 against — in ZIP 98050, with per-capita income of $79,718 vs $94,581. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 62.2% in 98024 and 100.0% in 98050. Poverty rate reads 2.9% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 2.7% 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 $1,107,100 in 98024 versus $2,000,001 in 98050, with median rent of $2,000 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 89.4% vs 100.0%. 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.