ZIP 98258 vs ZIP 98270

This side-by-side compares ZIP 98258 (Lake Stevens, WA) and ZIP 98270 (Marysville, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 98258 has a population of 30,524 at 408 people per square mile, while ZIP 98270 has 45,899 at 1,238 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 98258 reports a median household income of $123,898 against $108,147 in ZIP 98270, with per-capita income of $50,096 vs $43,213. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 33.0% in 98258 and 25.1% in 98270. Poverty rate reads 4.8% vs 7.6%, and unemployment 4.3% vs 4.3% — 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 $653,100 in 98258 versus $579,900 in 98270, with median rent of $2,199 and $1,918 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 78.5% vs 70.6%. 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.