ZIP 76653 vs ZIP 76687

This side-by-side compares ZIP 76653 (Kosse, TX) and ZIP 76687 (Thornton, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 76653 has a population of 1,082 at 3 people per square mile, while ZIP 76687 has 1,466 at 4 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 76653 reports a median household income of $48,500 against $73,323 in ZIP 76687, with per-capita income of $36,978 vs $32,545. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.0% in 76653 and 18.5% in 76687. Poverty rate reads 13.4% vs 6.0%, and unemployment 1.5% 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 $150,200 in 76653 versus $254,500 in 76687, with median rent of — and $973 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 86.4% vs 83.5%. 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.