ZIP 79936 vs ZIP 77084

This side-by-side compares ZIP 79936 (El Paso, TX) and ZIP 77084 (Houston, TX) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 79936 has a population of 111,086 at 1,611 people per square mile, while ZIP 77084 has 95,137 at 1,198 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 79936 reports a median household income of $67,198 against $80,575 in ZIP 77084, with per-capita income of $30,088 vs $32,958. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 27.7% in 79936 and 30.3% in 77084. Poverty rate reads 13.1% vs 12.8%, and unemployment 5.4% vs 6.3% — 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 $179,000 in 79936 versus $248,300 in 77084, with median rent of $1,264 and $1,581 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.5% vs 60.0%. 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.