ZIP 72521 vs ZIP 72529

This side-by-side compares ZIP 72521 (Cave City, AR) and ZIP 72529 (Cherokee Village, AR) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 72521 has a population of 4,814 at 15 people per square mile, while ZIP 72529 has 4,726 at 93 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 72521 reports a median household income of $59,591 against $37,355 in ZIP 72529, with per-capita income of $26,947 vs $25,073. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.1% in 72521 and 19.6% in 72529. Poverty rate reads 15.2% vs 16.9%, and unemployment 3.6% vs 16.8% — 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 $146,800 in 72521 versus $94,700 in 72529, with median rent of $788 and $951 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 68.4% vs 84.3%. 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.