ZIP 79520 vs ZIP 79534

This side-by-side compares ZIP 79520 (Hamlin, TX) and ZIP 79534 (Mc Caulley, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 79520 has a population of 2,449 at 5 people per square mile, while ZIP 79534 has 181 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 79520 reports a median household income of $65,331 against $70,833 in ZIP 79534, with per-capita income of $30,517 vs $28,255. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.7% in 79520 and 22.9% in 79534. Poverty rate reads 13.6% vs 15.0%, and unemployment 1.7% vs 14.0% - 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 $74,700 in 79520 versus $360,000 in 79534, with median rent of $853 and - per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 73.8% vs 78.3%. 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.