ZIP 76471 vs ZIP 76435

This side-by-side compares ZIP 76471 (Rising Star, TX) and ZIP 76435 (Carbon, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 76471 has a population of 1,906 at 4 people per square mile, while ZIP 76435 has 612 at 3 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 76471 reports a median household income of $54,773 against $76,667 in ZIP 76435, with per-capita income of $37,086 vs $32,983. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 18.6% in 76471 and 22.7% in 76435. Poverty rate reads 16.8% vs 2.9%, and unemployment 3.5% vs 0.3% - 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 $141,700 in 76471 versus $148,000 in 76435, with median rent of $700 and $1,571 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 73.5% vs 82.8%. 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.