ZIP 71953 vs ZIP 72926

This side-by-side compares ZIP 71953 (Mena, AR) and ZIP 72926 (Boles, AR) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 71953 has a population of 14,882 at 9 people per square mile, while ZIP 72926 has 545 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 71953 reports a median household income of $51,969 against $82,578 in ZIP 72926, with per-capita income of $30,724 vs $24,322. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.1% in 71953 and 14.8% in 72926. Poverty rate reads 12.9% vs 4.9%, and unemployment 7.5% vs 3.1% — 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 $164,100 in 71953 versus $148,400 in 72926, with median rent of $699 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 80.8% vs 96.4%. 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.