ZIP 36052 vs ZIP 36029

This side-by-side compares ZIP 36052 (Mathews, AL) and ZIP 36029 (Fitzpatrick, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 36052 has a population of 739 at 5 people per square mile, while ZIP 36029 has 723 at 3 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 36052 reports a median household income of $147,656 against $49,594 in ZIP 36029, with per-capita income of $47,445 vs $41,907. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 55.4% in 36052 and 14.8% in 36029. Poverty rate reads 2.4% vs 10.1%, and unemployment 2.6% 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 $617,300 in 36052 versus $244,200 in 36029, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 89.3% vs 77.4%. 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.