ZIP 36521 vs ZIP 36571

This side-by-side compares ZIP 36521 (Chunchula, AL) and ZIP 36571 (Saraland, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 36521 has a population of 5,431 at 15 people per square mile, while ZIP 36571 has 14,423 at 122 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 36521 reports a median household income of $76,688 against $62,047 in ZIP 36571, with per-capita income of $32,781 vs $41,032. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.3% in 36521 and 25.1% in 36571. Poverty rate reads 12.0% vs 10.6%, and unemployment 3.4% vs 4.0% — 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 $183,500 in 36521 versus $217,900 in 36571, with median rent of $1,009 and $1,060 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 95.1% vs 79.3%. 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.