ZIP 77081 vs ZIP 77401

This side-by-side compares ZIP 77081 (Houston, TX) and ZIP 77401 (Bellaire, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 77081 has a population of 47,860 at 5,954 people per square mile, while ZIP 77401 has 17,491 at 1,808 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 77081 reports a median household income of $43,251 against $243,750 in ZIP 77401, with per-capita income of $22,062 vs $119,406. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 18.0% in 77081 and 83.5% in 77401. Poverty rate reads 31.8% vs 2.4%, and unemployment 5.2% 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 $274,000 in 77081 versus $1,036,800 in 77401, with median rent of $1,014 and $2,672 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 6.6% vs 87.9%. 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.