ZIP 36728 vs ZIP 36720

This side-by-side compares ZIP 36728 (Catherine, AL) and ZIP 36720 (Alberta, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 36728 has a population of 461 at 2 people per square mile, while ZIP 36720 has 784 at 6 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 36728 reports a median household income of $17,679 against $17,917 in ZIP 36720, with per-capita income of $9,444 vs $22,533. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 0.0% in 36728 and 0.7% in 36720. Poverty rate reads 63.3% vs 30.9%, and unemployment 45.3% vs 0.0% — 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 36728 versus $53,900 in 36720, with median rent of $566 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 86.0% vs 83.2%. 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.