ZIP 41544 vs ZIP 41531

This side-by-side compares ZIP 41544 (Mc Carr, KY) and ZIP 41531 (Hardy, KY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 41544 has a population of 931 at 32 people per square mile, while ZIP 41531 has 985 at 41 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 41544 reports a median household income of $32,500 against $63,333 in ZIP 41531, with per-capita income of $14,312 vs $27,116. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 9.3% in 41544 and 8.7% in 41531. Poverty rate reads 28.7% vs 17.1%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 4.5% — 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 $69,400 in 41544 versus $108,300 in 41531, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 75.0% vs 86.6%. 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.