ZIP 71008 vs ZIP 71016

This side-by-side compares ZIP 71008 (Bienville, LA) and ZIP 71016 (Castor, LA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 71008 has a population of 739 at 2 people per square mile, while ZIP 71016 has 2,070 at 6 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 71008 reports a median household income of $36,029 against $41,806 in ZIP 71016, with per-capita income of $27,298 vs $22,869. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 9.2% in 71008 and 23.8% in 71016. Poverty rate reads 17.5% vs 18.0%, and unemployment 27.9% vs 7.7% - 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 - in 71008 versus $114,000 in 71016, with median rent of $709 and - per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 56.0% vs 79.9%. 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.