ZIP 78879 vs ZIP 78873

This side-by-side compares ZIP 78879 (Rio Frio, TX) and ZIP 78873 (Leakey, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 78879 has a population of 264 at 2 people per square mile, while ZIP 78873 has 1,788 at 3 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 78879 reports a median household income of $101,484 against - in ZIP 78873, with per-capita income of $37,156 vs $34,854. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 53.2% in 78879 and 28.3% in 78873. Poverty rate reads 0.0% vs 23.6%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 0.0% - 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 $1,046,900 in 78879 versus $100,900 in 78873, with median rent of - and - per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 78.9% vs 80.9%. 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.