ZIP 36581 vs ZIP 36548

This side-by-side compares ZIP 36581 (Sunflower, AL) and ZIP 36548 (Leroy, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 36581 has a population of 224 at 2 people per square mile, while ZIP 36548 has 1,136 at 13 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 36581 reports a median household income of — against $78,676 in ZIP 36548, with per-capita income of $57,625 vs $31,382. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 5.0% in 36581 and 26.0% in 36548. Poverty rate reads 0.0% vs 8.3%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 4.9% — 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 $408,600 in 36581 versus $202,700 in 36548, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 64.6% vs 75.9%. 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.