ZIP 74442 vs ZIP 74501

This side-by-side compares ZIP 74442 (Indianola, OK) and ZIP 74501 (Mcalester, OK) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 74442 has a population of 920 at 6 people per square mile, while ZIP 74501 has 29,073 at 20 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 74442 reports a median household income of $78,083 against $57,922 in ZIP 74501, with per-capita income of $33,690 vs $29,738. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.5% in 74442 and 21.4% in 74501. Poverty rate reads 13.2% vs 17.6%, and unemployment 2.7% vs 6.0% — 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 $183,900 in 74442 versus $164,000 in 74501, with median rent of $967 and $914 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 90.6% vs 68.4%. 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.