ZIP 71901 vs ZIP 71909

This side-by-side compares ZIP 71901 (Hot Springs National Park, AR) and ZIP 71909 (Hot Springs Village, AR) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 71901 has a population of 29,491 at 110 people per square mile, while ZIP 71909 has 15,508 at 74 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 71901 reports a median household income of $53,514 against $75,433 in ZIP 71909, with per-capita income of $32,857 vs $46,058. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 26.0% in 71901 and 32.4% in 71909. Poverty rate reads 20.1% vs 8.2%, and unemployment 6.1% vs 3.5% — 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 $190,500 in 71901 versus $265,800 in 71909, with median rent of $825 and $1,192 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 62.9% vs 88.0%. 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.