ZIP 78839 vs ZIP 78872

This side-by-side compares ZIP 78839 (Crystal City, TX) and ZIP 78872 (La Pryor, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 78839 has a population of 8,578 at 9 people per square mile, while ZIP 78872 has 1,905 at 4 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 78839 reports a median household income of $37,365 against $39,659 in ZIP 78872, with per-capita income of $21,526 vs $18,108. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 10.9% in 78839 and 13.8% in 78872. Poverty rate reads 33.4% vs 23.1%, and unemployment 3.2% vs 11.6% - 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 $103,700 in 78839 versus $78,500 in 78872, with median rent of $519 and $2,125 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 68.2% vs 73.9%. 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.