ZIP 98424 vs ZIP 98443

This side-by-side compares ZIP 98424 (Tacoma, WA) and ZIP 98443 (Tacoma, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 98424 has a population of 10,140 at 621 people per square mile, while ZIP 98443 has 5,371 at 406 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 98424 reports a median household income of $94,122 against $105,035 in ZIP 98443, with per-capita income of $40,488 vs $47,621. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 27.9% in 98424 and 27.7% in 98443. Poverty rate reads 10.3% vs 7.2%, and unemployment 5.3% vs 4.1% — 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 $561,600 in 98424 versus $519,100 in 98443, with median rent of $1,890 and $1,823 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 49.1% vs 81.8%. 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.