ZIP 36912 vs ZIP 36904

This side-by-side compares ZIP 36912 (Lisman, AL) and ZIP 36904 (Butler, AL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 36912 has a population of 2,017 at 6 people per square mile, while ZIP 36904 has 4,098 at 7 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 36912 reports a median household income of $39,926 against $44,250 in ZIP 36904, with per-capita income of $34,405 vs $24,794. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.5% in 36912 and 19.3% in 36904. Poverty rate reads 25.8% vs 17.6%, and unemployment 11.5% vs 5.0% — 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 $69,600 in 36912 versus $143,900 in 36904, with median rent of — and $731 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.9% vs 73.4%. 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.