Compare ZIP codes

U.S. index. Establishments with paid employees per person present (residents + 0.5 × jobs) divided by the national rate. 100% is the U.S. density. Bands are labels for that number, not advice.

County and peers. Extra ratios only. County uses every ZIP in that county with population. Peers are other ZIPs in the same county with the same jobs-to-residents type (residential / mixed / hub / destination) and a published count. Too few peers means the cell is blank.

Ring. The ZIP plus nearest ZIP areas until combined residents reach about 100,000. Straight-line Census points, not drive time. Unpublished 0–2 cells add nothing to the ring count; the page states how many were withheld.

Trend. Published employer counts of 3 or more in the years Census released for that county. A missing year is a withheld or thin cell, not zero. Small moves are rounding noise.

Tags are cause-candidates (residential leakage, thin n, nonemployer-heavy, destination), not verdicts.

What this cannot tell you. Rent, foot traffic, revenue, zoning, or whether to open. Age, households, and vehicles are not in this dataset.

How do I compare two ZIP codes? Enter two or three ZIPs and one industry. The table shows the same Census counts and density versus the U.S. rate, plus county, same-type peers, and a ~100,000-resident ring. Nothing here ranks which ZIP is better.

What does versus county or peers mean? The index stays 100% = the U.S. rate. County and peer columns are extra context: density in this ZIP divided by the county rate, or by other ZIPs of the same jobs-to-residents type in that county. They are not a success score.

What is the 100,000-resident ring? The center ZIP plus the nearest ZIP areas until combined residents reach about 100,000. Distance is a straight line between Census points, not drive time. If coverage cannot reach 100,000, the page says so.