ZIP 77659 vs ZIP 77613

This side-by-side compares ZIP 77659 (Sour Lake, TX) and ZIP 77613 (China, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 77659 has a population of 4,910 at 16 people per square mile, while ZIP 77613 has 1,218 at 12 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 77659 reports a median household income of $110,590 against $72,667 in ZIP 77613, with per-capita income of $39,492 vs $44,860. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 30.9% in 77659 and 22.2% in 77613. Poverty rate reads 5.7% vs 9.2%, and unemployment 5.5% vs 14.3% — 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 $241,100 in 77659 versus $190,100 in 77613, with median rent of $1,299 and $1,028 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 87.4% vs 82.7%. 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.