ZIP 99161 vs ZIP 99130

This side-by-side compares ZIP 99161 (Palouse, WA) and ZIP 99130 (Garfield, WA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 99161 has a population of 1,400 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 99130 has 828 at 4 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 99161 reports a median household income of $87,464 against $82,000 in ZIP 99130, with per-capita income of $41,839 vs $37,059. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 45.8% in 99161 and 29.2% in 99130. Poverty rate reads 2.7% vs 13.5%, and unemployment 0.4% vs 2.9% — 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 $302,600 in 99161 versus $232,100 in 99130, with median rent of $922 and $906 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.5% vs 80.6%. 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.