ZIP 71909 vs ZIP 71901

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