ZIP 78243 vs ZIP 78242

This side-by-side compares ZIP 78243 (San Antonio, TX) and ZIP 78242 (San Antonio, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 78243 has a population of 235 at 195 people per square mile, while ZIP 78242 has 31,395 at 1,541 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 78243 reports a median household income of — against $50,644 in ZIP 78242, with per-capita income of $24,322 vs $19,020. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 0.0% in 78243 and 10.3% in 78242. Poverty rate reads — vs 23.3%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 11.5% — 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 — in 78243 versus $148,200 in 78242, with median rent of — and $1,270 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is — vs 53.6%. 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.