ZIP 35661 vs ZIP 35646

This side-by-side compares ZIP 35661 (Muscle Shoals, AL) and ZIP 35646 (Leighton, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 35661 has a population of 16,617 at 115 people per square mile, while ZIP 35646 has 4,635 at 19 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 35661 reports a median household income of $74,310 against $71,217 in ZIP 35646, with per-capita income of $34,403 vs $40,706. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 23.8% in 35661 and 16.4% in 35646. Poverty rate reads 14.4% vs 10.4%, and unemployment 3.9% vs 1.1% — 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 $191,800 in 35661 versus $142,900 in 35646, with median rent of $1,006 and $559 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.3% 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.