ZIP 37686 vs ZIP 37617

This side-by-side compares ZIP 37686 (Piney Flats, TN) and ZIP 37617 (Blountville, TN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 37686 has a population of 7,072 at 93 people per square mile, while ZIP 37617 has 14,251 at 93 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 37686 reports a median household income of $84,264 against $64,764 in ZIP 37617, with per-capita income of $43,900 vs $35,074. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 35.5% in 37686 and 22.7% in 37617. Poverty rate reads 5.4% vs 11.2%, and unemployment 2.3% vs 5.9% — 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 $352,200 in 37686 versus $247,700 in 37617, with median rent of $1,032 and $920 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 76.5% vs 82.3%. 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.