ZIP 35549 vs ZIP 35587

This side-by-side compares ZIP 35549 (Carbon Hill, AL) and ZIP 35587 (Townley, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 35549 has a population of 4,341 at 15 people per square mile, while ZIP 35587 has 1,025 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 35549 reports a median household income of $47,818 against $54,773 in ZIP 35587, with per-capita income of $23,414 vs $30,349. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 6.1% in 35549 and 10.7% in 35587. Poverty rate reads 25.4% vs 5.5%, and unemployment 1.3% 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 $67,400 in 35549 versus $88,700 in 35587, with median rent of $572 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.2% vs 88.9%. 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.