ZIP 79536 vs ZIP 79563

This side-by-side compares ZIP 79536 (Merkel, TX) and ZIP 79563 (Tye, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 79536 has a population of 4,988 at 6 people per square mile, while ZIP 79563 has 1,161 at 27 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 79536 reports a median household income of $71,131 against $49,276 in ZIP 79563, with per-capita income of $38,922 vs $24,979. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.7% in 79536 and 5.1% in 79563. Poverty rate reads 13.7% vs 10.4%, and unemployment 1.3% vs 0.7% - 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 $136,400 in 79536 versus $64,600 in 79563, with median rent of $1,198 and $933 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 74.0% vs 82.7%. 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.