ZIP 42085 vs ZIP 42041

This side-by-side compares ZIP 42085 (Water Valley, KY) and ZIP 42041 (Fulton, KY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 42085 has a population of 918 at 12 people per square mile, while ZIP 42041 has 4,627 at 16 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 42085 reports a median household income of $57,679 against $36,045 in ZIP 42041, with per-capita income of $20,036 vs $20,222. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 3.5% in 42085 and 16.0% in 42041. Poverty rate reads 27.9% vs 30.4%, and unemployment 1.5% vs 5.6% — 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 $106,000 in 42085 versus $105,900 in 42041, with median rent of $746 and $620 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.0% vs 62.6%. 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.