ZIP 71254 vs ZIP 71286

This side-by-side compares ZIP 71254 (Lake Providence, LA) and ZIP 71286 (Transylvania, LA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 71254 has a population of 6,759 at 10 people per square mile, while ZIP 71286 has 615 at 3 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 71254 reports a median household income of $31,433 against $37,841 in ZIP 71286, with per-capita income of $17,285 vs $30,403. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 12.5% in 71254 and 8.1% in 71286. Poverty rate reads 37.7% vs 20.3%, and unemployment 13.8% vs 15.8% - 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 $107,100 in 71254 versus - in 71286, with median rent of $652 and - per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 53.6% vs 93.3%. 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.