ZIP 98391 vs ZIP 98387

This side-by-side compares ZIP 98391 (Bonney Lake, WA) and ZIP 98387 (Spanaway, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 98391 has a population of 44,309 at 444 people per square mile, while ZIP 98387 has 43,173 at 588 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 98391 reports a median household income of $135,037 against $106,872 in ZIP 98387, with per-capita income of $56,975 vs $40,831. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 33.6% in 98391 and 18.4% in 98387. Poverty rate reads 3.6% vs 7.4%, 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 $626,800 in 98391 versus $461,000 in 98387, with median rent of $2,265 and $1,869 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 85.7% vs 77.4%. 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.