ZIP 35446 vs ZIP 35457

This side-by-side compares ZIP 35446 (Buhl, AL) and ZIP 35457 (Echola, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 35446 has a population of 2,234 at 14 people per square mile, while ZIP 35457 has 82 at 5 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 35446 reports a median household income of $39,313 against — in ZIP 35457, with per-capita income of $22,562 vs —. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 7.9% in 35446 and 0.0% in 35457. Poverty rate reads 24.1% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 7.4% vs 0.0% — 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 $158,200 in 35446 versus — in 35457, with median rent of $818 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 79.2% vs 100.0%. 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.