ZIP 36528 vs ZIP 36523

This side-by-side compares ZIP 36528 (Dauphin Island, AL) and ZIP 36523 (Coden, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 36528 has a population of 1,237 at 76 people per square mile, while ZIP 36523 has 2,818 at 28 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 36528 reports a median household income of $67,206 against $61,607 in ZIP 36523, with per-capita income of $57,139 vs $29,905. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 42.4% in 36528 and 16.3% in 36523. Poverty rate reads 6.6% vs 14.6%, and unemployment 14.3% vs 4.3% — 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 $432,200 in 36528 versus $165,900 in 36523, with median rent of $1,844 and $1,157 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 97.5% 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.