ZIP 77857 vs ZIP 76556

This side-by-side compares ZIP 77857 (Gause, TX) and ZIP 76556 (Milano, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 77857 has a population of 757 at 5 people per square mile, while ZIP 76556 has 1,461 at 6 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 77857 reports a median household income of $63,000 against $52,328 in ZIP 76556, with per-capita income of $37,613 vs $28,870. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 27.9% in 77857 and 16.1% in 76556. Poverty rate reads 14.8% vs 12.2%, and unemployment 2.7% vs 2.6% — 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 $355,800 in 77857 versus $153,800 in 76556, with median rent of $1,080 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 89.3% vs 93.9%. 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.