ZIP 77859 vs ZIP 77856

This side-by-side compares ZIP 77859 (Hearne, TX) and ZIP 77856 (Franklin, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 77859 has a population of 6,981 at 16 people per square mile, while ZIP 77856 has 5,096 at 5 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 77859 reports a median household income of $52,639 against $94,785 in ZIP 77856, with per-capita income of $30,885 vs $38,790. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.6% in 77859 and 29.4% in 77856. Poverty rate reads 22.0% vs 8.0%, and unemployment 11.0% vs 4.6% — 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 $160,000 in 77859 versus $318,400 in 77856, with median rent of $665 and $945 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 69.7% vs 74.6%. 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.