ZIP 35546 vs ZIP 35542

This side-by-side compares ZIP 35546 (Berry, AL) and ZIP 35542 (Bankston, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 35546 has a population of 3,901 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 35542 has 1,021 at 7 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 35546 reports a median household income of $69,531 against $44,674 in ZIP 35542, with per-capita income of $26,167 vs $22,886. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.0% in 35546 and 5.5% in 35542. Poverty rate reads 20.6% vs 27.1%, and unemployment 3.9% vs 7.1% — 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 $167,600 in 35546 versus — in 35542, with median rent of $550 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 80.6% vs 90.2%. 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.