ZIP 38581 vs ZIP 38587

This side-by-side compares ZIP 38581 (Rock Island, TN) and ZIP 38587 (Walling, TN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 38581 has a population of 4,112 at 16 people per square mile, while ZIP 38587 has 1,301 at 17 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 38581 reports a median household income of $55,985 against $51,500 in ZIP 38587, with per-capita income of $33,078 vs $41,843. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.0% in 38581 and 28.6% in 38587. Poverty rate reads 16.0% vs 4.9%, and unemployment 3.4% vs 2.3% — 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 $182,500 in 38581 versus $249,600 in 38587, with median rent of $928 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.6% vs 89.4%. 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.