ZIP 72045 vs ZIP 72136

This side-by-side compares ZIP 72045 (El Paso, AR) and ZIP 72136 (Romance, AR) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 72045 has a population of 1,151 at 10 people per square mile, while ZIP 72136 has 1,772 at 13 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 72045 reports a median household income of $60,602 against $78,328 in ZIP 72136, with per-capita income of $43,455 vs $21,886. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 26.4% in 72045 and 8.5% in 72136. Poverty rate reads 1.1% vs 20.5%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 12.5% — 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 $140,200 in 72045 versus $194,300 in 72136, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 92.8% vs 76.0%. 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.