ZIP 98240 vs ZIP 98248

This side-by-side compares ZIP 98240 (Custer, WA) and ZIP 98248 (Ferndale, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 98240 has a population of 3,061 at 57 people per square mile, while ZIP 98248 has 22,361 at 122 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 98240 reports a median household income of $110,116 against $91,060 in ZIP 98248, with per-capita income of $47,642 vs $46,916. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 23.6% in 98240 and 33.8% in 98248. Poverty rate reads 4.3% vs 10.3%, and unemployment 8.0% vs 3.1% — 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 $619,700 in 98240 versus $589,600 in 98248, with median rent of — and $1,469 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 93.0% vs 76.7%. 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.