ZIP 74501 vs ZIP 74554

This side-by-side compares ZIP 74501 (Mcalester, OK) and ZIP 74554 (Krebs, OK) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 74501 has a population of 29,073 at 20 people per square mile, while ZIP 74554 has 1,744 at 142 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 74501 reports a median household income of $57,922 against $40,938 in ZIP 74554, with per-capita income of $29,738 vs $25,180. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 21.4% in 74501 and 12.7% in 74554. Poverty rate reads 17.6% vs 21.9%, and unemployment 6.0% vs 3.7% — 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 $164,000 in 74501 versus $99,100 in 74554, with median rent of $914 and $849 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 68.4% vs 55.4%. 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.