ZIP 36540 vs ZIP 36480

This side-by-side compares ZIP 36540 (Gainestown, AL) and ZIP 36480 (Uriah, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 36540 has a population of 691 at 6 people per square mile, while ZIP 36480 has 1,773 at 4 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 36540 reports a median household income of $29,609 against $49,342 in ZIP 36480, with per-capita income of $28,891 vs $30,755. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.5% in 36540 and 8.0% in 36480. Poverty rate reads 35.3% vs 9.5%, and unemployment 21.3% vs 3.9% — 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 — in 36540 versus $163,100 in 36480, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 86.6% vs 94.8%. 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.