ZIP 36574 vs ZIP 36549

This side-by-side compares ZIP 36574 (Seminole, AL) and ZIP 36549 (Lillian, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 36574 has a population of 1,341 at 37 people per square mile, while ZIP 36549 has 4,271 at 59 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 36574 reports a median household income of $50,915 against $63,019 in ZIP 36549, with per-capita income of $30,738 vs $43,631. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.5% in 36574 and 24.0% in 36549. Poverty rate reads 1.0% vs 6.8%, and unemployment 6.5% 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 $223,500 in 36574 versus $216,200 in 36549, with median rent of $868 and $927 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.2% vs 90.6%. 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.