ZIP 38746 vs ZIP 38774

This side-by-side compares ZIP 38746 (Gunnison, MS) and ZIP 38774 (Shelby, MS) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 38746 has a population of 616 at 4 people per square mile, while ZIP 38774 has 2,522 at 13 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 38746 reports a median household income of — against $19,811 in ZIP 38774, with per-capita income of $25,453 vs $11,363. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 7.8% in 38746 and 21.7% in 38774. Poverty rate reads 34.9% vs 57.0%, and unemployment 21.2% vs 18.9% — 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 $57,000 in 38746 versus $90,400 in 38774, with median rent of $608 and $690 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 53.5% vs 62.9%. 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.