ZIP 40442 vs ZIP 42541

This side-by-side compares ZIP 40442 (Kings Mountain, KY) and ZIP 42541 (Middleburg, KY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 40442 has a population of 1,136 at 18 people per square mile, while ZIP 42541 has 531 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 40442 reports a median household income of — against $43,232 in ZIP 42541, with per-capita income of $31,251 vs $20,536. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.8% in 40442 and 14.4% in 42541. Poverty rate reads 39.2% vs 7.6%, and unemployment 22.3% vs 6.6% — 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 $105,900 in 40442 versus $127,800 in 42541, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 86.3% vs 84.6%. 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.