ZIP 79839 vs ZIP 79851

This side-by-side compares ZIP 79839 (Fort Hancock, TX) and ZIP 79851 (Sierra Blanca, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 79839 has a population of 1,938 at 2 people per square mile, while ZIP 79851 has 641 at 0 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 79839 reports a median household income of $47,950 against $55,500 in ZIP 79851, with per-capita income of $19,949 vs $15,386. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 6.0% in 79839 and 6.7% in 79851. Poverty rate reads 13.8% vs 32.5%, and unemployment 3.1% vs 14.7% - 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 $55,000 in 79839 versus $62,600 in 79851, with median rent of $540 and $1,000 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 69.9% vs 67.6%. 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.