ZIP 98846 vs ZIP 98834

This side-by-side compares ZIP 98846 (Pateros, WA) and ZIP 98834 (Methow, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 98846 has a population of 1,173 at 5 people per square mile, while ZIP 98834 has 239 at 1 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 98846 reports a median household income of $84,464 against $71,667 in ZIP 98834, with per-capita income of $35,819 vs $39,734. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 21.1% in 98846 and 17.4% in 98834. Poverty rate reads 13.7% vs 6.7%, and unemployment 4.7% vs 7.6% — 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 $338,200 in 98846 versus $590,000 in 98834, with median rent of $971 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 83.9% vs 87.8%. 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.