ZIP 35587 vs ZIP 35549

This side-by-side compares ZIP 35587 (Townley, AL) and ZIP 35549 (Carbon Hill, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 35587 has a population of 1,025 at 8 people per square mile, while ZIP 35549 has 4,341 at 15 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 35587 reports a median household income of $54,773 against $47,818 in ZIP 35549, with per-capita income of $30,349 vs $23,414. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 10.7% in 35587 and 6.1% in 35549. Poverty rate reads 5.5% vs 25.4%, and unemployment 0.0% 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 $88,700 in 35587 versus $67,400 in 35549, with median rent of — and $572 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.9% vs 81.2%. 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.