ZIP 78742 vs ZIP 78721

This side-by-side compares ZIP 78742 (Austin, TX) and ZIP 78721 (Austin, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 78742 has a population of 820 at 55 people per square mile, while ZIP 78721 has 11,425 at 1,192 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 78742 reports a median household income of — against $84,573 in ZIP 78721, with per-capita income of $30,428 vs $57,366. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 10.6% in 78742 and 51.6% in 78721. Poverty rate reads 30.8% vs 25.8%, and unemployment 20.3% vs 6.8% — 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 78742 versus $523,000 in 78721, with median rent of $1,328 and $1,482 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 57.5% vs 51.3%. 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.