ZIP 78117 vs ZIP 78118

This side-by-side compares ZIP 78117 (Hobson, TX) and ZIP 78118 (Karnes City, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 78117 has a population of 545 at 4 people per square mile, while ZIP 78118 has 3,976 at 9 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 78117 reports a median household income of — against $60,711 in ZIP 78118, with per-capita income of $47,346 vs $34,771. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 34.6% in 78117 and 15.5% in 78118. Poverty rate reads 0.8% vs 23.9%, and unemployment 10.3% vs 5.0% — 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 $323,800 in 78117 versus $103,700 in 78118, with median rent of — and $666 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 90.4% vs 74.8%. 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.