ZIP 36866 vs ZIP 36088

This side-by-side compares ZIP 36866 (Notasulga, AL) and ZIP 36088 (Tuskegee Institute, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 36866 has a population of 3,955 at 17 people per square mile, while ZIP 36088 has 4,767 at 550 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 36866 reports a median household income of $49,028 against $35,125 in ZIP 36088, with per-capita income of $28,823 vs $18,781. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 11.6% in 36866 and 33.7% in 36088. Poverty rate reads 30.8% vs 34.8%, and unemployment 8.4% vs 10.6% — 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 $112,900 in 36866 versus $107,300 in 36088, with median rent of $727 and $707 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 73.9% vs 38.1%. 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.