ZIP 78650 vs ZIP 78621

This side-by-side compares ZIP 78650 (Mc Dade, TX) and ZIP 78621 (Elgin, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 78650 has a population of 1,599 at 9 people per square mile, while ZIP 78621 has 21,659 at 45 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 78650 reports a median household income of $85,170 against $98,534 in ZIP 78621, with per-capita income of $33,166 vs $38,211. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.5% in 78650 and 24.3% in 78621. Poverty rate reads 8.1% vs 6.4%, and unemployment 7.8% vs 3.9% — 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 $300,300 in 78650 versus $320,800 in 78621, with median rent of $1,375 and $1,387 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 95.8% vs 81.1%. 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.