ZIP 36555 vs ZIP 36535

This side-by-side compares ZIP 36555 (Magnolia Springs, AL) and ZIP 36535 (Foley, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 36555 has a population of 654 at 300 people per square mile, while ZIP 36535 has 26,767 at 113 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 36555 reports a median household income of $86,705 against $66,714 in ZIP 36535, with per-capita income of $48,490 vs $38,076. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 56.0% in 36555 and 25.1% in 36535. Poverty rate reads 11.6% vs 13.3%, and unemployment 2.4% 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 $435,200 in 36555 versus $282,700 in 36535, with median rent of $1,156 and $1,235 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 86.9% 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.