ZIP 36344 vs ZIP 36314

This side-by-side compares ZIP 36344 (Hartford, AL) and ZIP 36314 (Black, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 36344 has a population of 5,732 at 17 people per square mile, while ZIP 36314 has 595 at 10 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 36344 reports a median household income of $60,377 against $62,047 in ZIP 36314, with per-capita income of $27,655 vs $27,884. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.4% in 36344 and 13.0% in 36314. Poverty rate reads 16.1% vs 6.0%, and unemployment 3.8% vs 0.7% — 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 $173,500 in 36344 versus $67,100 in 36314, with median rent of $836 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 71.8% vs 85.9%. 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.