ZIP 98831 vs ZIP 98817

This side-by-side compares ZIP 98831 (Manson, WA) and ZIP 98817 (Chelan Falls, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 98831 has a population of 3,708 at 31 people per square mile, while ZIP 98817 has 366 at 144 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 98831 reports a median household income of $82,650 against — in ZIP 98817, with per-capita income of $44,078 vs $33,285. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 29.3% in 98831 and 10.7% in 98817. Poverty rate reads 11.9% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 17.3% 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 $659,500 in 98831 versus — in 98817, with median rent of $1,181 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 73.1% vs 39.0%. 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.