ZIP 78582 vs ZIP 78584

This side-by-side compares ZIP 78582 (Rio Grande City, TX) and ZIP 78584 (Roma, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 78582 has a population of 40,455 at 24 people per square mile, while ZIP 78584 has 18,128 at 29 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 78582 reports a median household income of $42,626 against $27,056 in ZIP 78584, with per-capita income of $19,188 vs $18,097. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 13.2% in 78582 and 15.0% in 78584. Poverty rate reads 31.3% vs 40.2%, and unemployment 10.0% vs 12.3% — 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 $102,800 in 78582 versus $81,400 in 78584, with median rent of $747 and $636 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 72.3% vs 60.4%. 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.