ZIP 31055 vs ZIP 31549

This side-by-side compares ZIP 31055 (Mc Rae Helena, GA) and ZIP 31549 (Lumber City, GA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 31055 has a population of 8,245 at 24 people per square mile, while ZIP 31549 has 2,239 at 8 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 31055 reports a median household income of $45,885 against $51,402 in ZIP 31549, with per-capita income of $18,891 vs $38,700. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 12.0% in 31055 and 11.2% in 31549. Poverty rate reads 34.3% vs 19.8%, and unemployment 0.6% vs 1.3% — 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 $143,100 in 31055 versus — in 31549, with median rent of $722 and $659 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 59.0% vs 67.2%. 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.