ZIP 37688 vs ZIP 37683

This side-by-side compares ZIP 37688 (Shady Valley, TN) and ZIP 37683 (Mountain City, TN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 37688 has a population of 1,018 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 37683 has 13,021 at 37 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 37688 reports a median household income of $53,333 against $55,979 in ZIP 37683, with per-capita income of $34,644 vs $25,823. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 37.1% in 37688 and 14.7% in 37683. Poverty rate reads 6.6% vs 21.4%, and unemployment 1.8% vs 3.6% — 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 $164,300 in 37688 versus $177,000 in 37683, with median rent of $1,137 and $671 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 85.9% vs 76.9%. 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.