ZIP 71961 vs ZIP 71965

This side-by-side compares ZIP 71961 (Oden, AR) and ZIP 71965 (Pencil Bluff, AR) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 71961 has a population of 1,003 at 4 people per square mile, while ZIP 71965 has 315 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 71961 reports a median household income of $37,054 against — in ZIP 71965, with per-capita income of $17,512 vs $29,266. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 13.4% in 71961 and 27.1% in 71965. Poverty rate reads 26.4% vs 40.3%, and unemployment 2.4% vs 14.0% — 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 $124,100 in 71961 versus $144,100 in 71965, with median rent of $625 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 76.8% vs 82.4%. 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.