ZIP 98406 vs ZIP 98416

This side-by-side compares ZIP 98406 (Tacoma, WA) and ZIP 98416 (Tacoma, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 98406 has a population of 21,610 at 1,955 people per square mile, while ZIP 98416 has 1,014 at 3,758 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 98406 reports a median household income of $104,264 against — in ZIP 98416, with per-capita income of $58,501 vs $5,440. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 48.7% in 98406 and 100.0% in 98416. Poverty rate reads 8.0% vs —, and unemployment 3.9% vs 9.0% — 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 $638,400 in 98406 versus — in 98416, with median rent of $1,764 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 61.3% vs —. 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.