ZIP 98582 vs ZIP 98542

This side-by-side compares ZIP 98582 (Salkum, WA) and ZIP 98542 (Ethel, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 98582 has a population of 611 at 33 people per square mile, while ZIP 98542 has 656 at 19 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 98582 reports a median household income of $89,387 against $52,963 in ZIP 98542, with per-capita income of $55,837 vs $22,552. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.8% in 98582 and 9.9% in 98542. Poverty rate reads 7.8% vs 19.2%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 0.0% — 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 $346,100 in 98582 versus $372,300 in 98542, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 100.0% vs 76.1%. 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.