ZIP 35463 vs ZIP 35480

This side-by-side compares ZIP 35463 (Fosters, AL) and ZIP 35480 (Ralph, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 35463 has a population of 1,749 at 11 people per square mile, while ZIP 35480 has 1,343 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 35463 reports a median household income of $59,464 against $88,200 in ZIP 35480, with per-capita income of $28,363 vs $32,766. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 12.3% in 35463 and 15.3% in 35480. Poverty rate reads 7.4% vs 19.4%, and unemployment 8.5% vs 4.1% — 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 $226,000 in 35463 versus $251,500 in 35480, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 93.9% vs 96.4%. 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.