ZIP 77030 vs ZIP 77054

This side-by-side compares ZIP 77030 (Houston, TX) and ZIP 77054 (Houston, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 77030 has a population of 10,258 at 1,573 people per square mile, while ZIP 77054 has 22,290 at 1,537 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 77030 reports a median household income of $77,336 against $62,106 in ZIP 77054, with per-capita income of $72,653 vs $43,665. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 80.0% in 77030 and 64.4% in 77054. Poverty rate reads 12.0% vs 19.0%, and unemployment 2.7% vs 6.4% — 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 $631,400 in 77030 versus $200,000 in 77054, with median rent of $1,714 and $1,440 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 34.1% vs 11.8%. 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.