ZIP 79031 vs ZIP 79053

This side-by-side compares ZIP 79031 (Earth, TX) and ZIP 79053 (Lazbuddie, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 79031 has a population of 1,425 at 5 people per square mile, while ZIP 79053 has 137 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 79031 reports a median household income of $43,750 against $116,750 in ZIP 79053, with per-capita income of $26,806 vs $30,700. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 9.1% in 79031 and 71.7% in 79053. Poverty rate reads 16.4% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 0.4% 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 $96,600 in 79031 versus — in 79053, with median rent of $766 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.4% vs 56.0%. 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.