ZIP 98822 vs ZIP 98816

This side-by-side compares ZIP 98822 (Entiat, WA) and ZIP 98816 (Chelan, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 98822 has a population of 1,953 at 2 people per square mile, while ZIP 98816 has 6,394 at 6 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 98822 reports a median household income of $86,103 against $82,577 in ZIP 98816, with per-capita income of $40,631 vs $45,453. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 24.6% in 98822 and 28.3% in 98816. Poverty rate reads 6.7% vs 7.0%, and unemployment 5.0% vs 3.1% — 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 $383,600 in 98822 versus $499,200 in 98816, with median rent of $1,103 and $1,278 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 83.4% vs 65.5%. 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.