ZIP 99901 vs ZIP 99835

This side-by-side compares ZIP 99901 (Ketchikan, AK) and ZIP 99835 (Sitka, AK) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 99901 has a population of 13,508 at 1 people per square mile, while ZIP 99835 has 8,880 at 2 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 99901 reports a median household income of $92,885 against $101,727 in ZIP 99835, with per-capita income of $48,971 vs $46,118. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 27.4% in 99901 and 34.3% in 99835. Poverty rate reads 8.7% vs 7.5%, and unemployment 3.0% vs 6.4% - 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 $393,300 in 99901 versus $450,300 in 99835, with median rent of $1,505 and $1,341 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 68.6% vs 61.7%. 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.