ZIP 79044 vs ZIP 79018

This side-by-side compares ZIP 79044 (Hartley, TX) and ZIP 79018 (Channing, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 79044 has a population of 766 at 2 people per square mile, while ZIP 79018 has 548 at 1 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 79044 reports a median household income of $66,071 against $76,667 in ZIP 79018, with per-capita income of $44,948 vs $76,913. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 19.8% in 79044 and 23.2% in 79018. Poverty rate reads 7.0% vs 26.7%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 5.9% - 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 $185,400 in 79044 versus $106,300 in 79018, with median rent of $1,604 and $913 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 72.4% vs 70.6%. 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.