ZIP 98604 vs ZIP 98606

This side-by-side compares ZIP 98604 (Battle Ground, WA) and ZIP 98606 (Brush Prairie, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 98604 has a population of 34,232 at 183 people per square mile, while ZIP 98606 has 9,027 at 93 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 98604 reports a median household income of $112,448 against $115,151 in ZIP 98606, with per-capita income of $47,101 vs $50,140. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 29.1% in 98604 and 34.9% in 98606. Poverty rate reads 5.4% vs 3.2%, and unemployment 4.1% vs 4.7% — 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 $589,800 in 98604 versus $735,500 in 98606, with median rent of $1,587 and $1,502 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 82.4% vs 89.0%. 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.